From The Beginning Till The End
by DoRiS
Summary: Moving towards an AU direction but I am keeping it as canon as possible yet injecting my original ideas. Story of Lily and James, from the beginning till the very end. Enjoy the one of its kind story, spanning from Godric Gryffindor to Harry Potter era.
1. pRoLoGuE

**pRoLoGuE**

This was the story that every single wizard and witch would have heard in his or her childhood. It was a common story, written by someone mystical known as Zeus Trelawney. It was originally based on his premonition of the distant future, which later on, over the centuries, became a common tale for kids. It was just like telling fairy tales to muggle children.

Long time ago, in the world of wizarding, there were seven supreme figures, originated from the stars that were the only protectors of this earthly world. These seven guardians protected the wizarding community from evil and muggle eyes. At the beginning of time, they had come and gathered together due to their extraordinary powers. With the power of seven, they were known to be invincible, which included the ability to freeze time and change weather at will. Lacking of any one member would reduce their strength tremendously.

The eldest of all had the gift of animal communication. But once the destined animal was selected, they could not be changed. This gift, however, could be passed through the thousands of generation.

The second had the gift of wandless magic. With enough practice, he would be able to perform as many as five spells at the same time with just a bit of concentration. Though doing magic without wand was possible even for the normal wizards and witches using charms and potions, none would be anywhere near powerful. For he had more hidden powers than he knew.

The third had the gift of time travel. He could travel to any age, any time, in the past or the future just with the simple use of mind power and concentration. But, like any other powers, discipline must be there. Meddling with time would be dangerous, as it could modify the history and altered the present that would in turn caused a change the future.

The fourth had the gift of eye power. Using his eyes, he could move things, hypnotized anyone in a matter of seconds and could enter one's thoughts and dreams. As eyes were known as windows to our souls, his eyes would be more powerful than he thought.

The fifth had the gift of telekinesis. She was able to move anything, big or small, just with the concentration of her mind. The ability to control anything with the mind was phenomenon, which meant that she could do more than just entering one's thoughts and dreams at ease. She could even control one's emotions and decisions.

The sixth had the gift of healing. She could heal anyone, any type of injuries instantly, just by a gentle touch. Neither potion nor wands needed. Most healers had to undergo training for years to achieve that. But for her, her healing abilities exceeded far beyond the superficial level.

The youngest of all had the gift of premonition, also commonly known as seers these days. They could read minds, touch emotions, alter thoughts and even foresee anything that can happen as far as decades down the road. Knowing too much could sometimes be a burden and occasionally, ignorance could be a blessing in disguise.

The power of supreme seven made up the beginning of the wizarding world till what we known as today.

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Zeus Trelawney had made the premonition that one of the seven would turn evil and go against the rest of the supreme six. In order to get rid of evil and save the world, only a stag, a flower, a dog, a wolf, a seer, an angel and a boy had to combine their strengths and weaknesses to rid of this evildoer.

Godric Gryffindor, the one who could perform wandless magic; Helga Hufflepuff, the time traveler; Rowena Ravenclaw, the one with mind power; and finally, Salazar Slytherin, the one who had the ability to communicate with animals, came together to set up the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry thousands of years ago. This then became the world's first and finest wizarding school ever.

In order to keep the chance of being born into the world one day in turn of crisis, they had to make sure they had enough descendents that could go on and on for at least the next two thousand years.


	2. The Birth Of The Supreme Six

**Chapter 1: The Birth of the Supreme Six**

Albus Dumbledore looked out from the windows of Hogwarts. _How time flies, another year had past._ Little did he thought that this would be the year where six of the legendary Supreme Seven were born to fight the rising Dark Lord. Although he was wise and knowledgeable, he did not possess the gift of premonition.

"Come in." Dumbledore called out to the person outside his office door. Usually visitors to his office never had the need to knock, since the moving gargoyle was loud enough to inform him about the incoming guests.

"Yes, Albus." McGonagall walked into the round office and took a seat at the chair across Dumbledore.

"I was wondering if you have a strange feeling that something big is about to happen this year." Dumbledore asked. "A strange but good feeling." It was the second day into the new year and the students were coming back the next day to continue their semester.

"Now that you mentioned, I think I understand what you meant." McGonagall gave a thought. " For the last few evenings, I had some weird comforting feeling but at the same time anxious and worried. I can't seem to find a word to describe that." She looked at Dumbledore with a mixture of confusion and worry.

"I believe something big is about to happen." Dumbledore said confidently.

"Well, you might want to ask Trelawney about the future." McGonagall rolled her eyes a little. She thought that Divination was more like the art of deception, especially Sibyll Trelawney who barely looked like she had any more power than performing drama during her class. Transfiguration, in her opinion, was much more practical.

"I already did." Dumbledore smiled and shook his head. _She can be so stubborn sometimes._

"Then what did she say" McGonagall raised her brows in mild anticipation.

"She said that this would be the year where destined wizards and witches were born to save the world." Dumbledore gave the main point. "She said that there was a 'nagging' thought in the back of the mind that it has something to do with legendary characters."

"As in the story of the Supreme Seven" McGonagall chortled. "That would be _amazing_."

"I believe her." Dumbledore said coolly.

"You can't be that thick. I mean, out of her hundred weird premonitions, one will come true, and it's not even entirely true." McGonagall shook her head in disbelief. Just a week ago, Trelawney had commented that if thirteen people who sat together for dinner, the first to stand up would die within one day. Apparently the first one who dared to stand up was Dumbledore, and he was still alive now.

"I believe this is the one out of the hundred." Dumbledore gave such his rarely shown serious expression.

"Alright, let's wait and see. We can confirm it in about twelve years time." McGonagall shrugged. "We can't do anything about it now anyway."

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"WWWHHHAAAHHH" A loud cry of a newborn baby echoed through the corridors of the empty St. Mungo hospital in the wee hours. Harry Potter, who was pacing to and fro outside the delivery ward, halted immediately and turned to wait anxiously at the door for the Healer to appear.

"Congratulations, Mr. Potter." The healer smiled broadly. "You may go in to see your wife and baby boy now."

"Thank you. Thank you so much." Harry thanked the man who delivered his son to this world gratefully. He did not wanted to stay inside to witness the process for he knew he probably would freak out before his wife. Rather than being useful, he might be the hindrance.

Harry pushed open the door and entered the ward, which now had a pungent smell of blood and antiseptic. Grinning broadly, he moved swiftly towards his tired wife.

"Hon, how're you feeling now?" Asked the concerned husband.

"Exhausted." Helen replied wearily, resting against the pillow that had been mutilated by her during her labor.

"Congrats." The mediwitch who carried their baby boy said sincerely. "He looks just like his father."

"Thank you." Harry took his son from the mediwitch gingerly, trying his best to carry his newborn in a more natural manner. "So what shall we name this little darling?" He showed the bundle wrapped in blue towel to his wife.

"I like the name James." Helen mustered her strength and touched her child on the cheek.

"That's a nice name." Harry agreed wholeheartedly. "How about my father's name for his middle name"

"Sounds good." Helen smiled encouragingly.

"Ok, here comes James Kelvin Potter!" Declared the proud father as he cuddled his son. The newborn had stopped crying and now fully absorbed in looking around at the unfamiliar surroundings.

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After a one-month gap, in another part of the country, a man was waiting eagerly outside a hospital delivery ward. Adam Lupin was pacing about outside the delivery room when suddenly the cries of a newborn burst the silence of the hospital surroundings. "Oh Merlin." He tried to calm himself down as he waited for the healer to come out.

"Congrats. You can go in now." The healer smiled at the perspiring father.

"Thank you" Adam rushed in to see his wife Adeline, who was now cuddling their newborn son in her arms. He gave his wife a quick thank-you kiss on her lips before saying anything.

"Hey, Little Darling." Adam touched the few strands of fine hair on his son's head. "Little Honey." Both of them adored the pretty baby before them as they were deciding a name.

"Remus." Adeline suggested suddenly, looking up at her husband. "How about Remus Jason Lupin?"

"I don't like the name Jason." Adam said thoughtfully. "What about Remus Jack Lupin?"

"Okay with me." Adeline smiled as they continued to admire their bundle of joy.

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"Look at how cute they are!" Jason Black exclaimed excitedly. He was swinging his three-day-old baby boy gently, never taking his eyes off him.

"Yeah! They're so adorable!" Replied an equally excited Jeraldine. She was cuddling their baby daughter as she leaned back on the hospital bed.

"So what shall we name them?" Jason asked. "They had been nameless for three whole days."

"How about I name our daughter and you name our son" Jeraldine suggested lovingly, looking up at her husband who was walking to and fro with their baby boy.

"I want to name him Sirius Edward Black." Jason said, looking at his wife.

"She shall be Stefanie Elle Black." Jeraldine said at the same time, locking their eyes together. Then both of them laughed at their simultaneous statements.

"Wow. Telepathy, huh." Both of them laughed at one another, looking lovingly at their fruits of love.

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Dawn Evans cuddled the baby lovingly as Daryl Evans came into the hospital ward with their first daughter Petunia in the break of dawn. She had just given birth to a baby girl after a long night.

"How is my darling feeling" Daryl gave Dawn a kiss and smiled lovingly as his wife.

"Never been better." Though tired, the radiant glow on Dawn was obvious.

"Daddy, I can't see." Little Petunia tiptoed and attempted to climb onto the high hospital bed.

"There you go." Daryl lifted Petunia up so that she could have a closer look at the little pink bundle.

"She is so cute." Five-year-old Petunia asked, touching the cheek of the baby gently. "What is her name"

"This will be up to your mummy." Daryl smiled at his beautiful wife.

"Lily Doraine Evans." She cooed, as she adored the sleeping baby with the two of them.

"Hello Lily." Petunia said softly, looking at her younger sister. "Can I carry her"

"Sure." Dawn smiled at her older daughter. "She is very fragile. You must be gentle with her, ok"

"Ok." Petunia sat closer to her mother and tried to hold baby Lily, as carefully and gently as she could. "Wow."

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Sarah Figg carried her one-week-old newborn daughter and walked briskly towards the nearby orphanage. She could not keep the child. She just couldn't. She had her reasons for doing so. Abandoning her flesh and blood was too much for her to bear.

When she reached the doorstep, she left the baby girl at the doorstep and inserted a letter into the bundle.

"Goodbye Arabella Doreen Figg, my love." She whispered and planted a kiss on the sleeping baby's forehead. She wrapped the towel around the infant to keep her warm from the mild wind.

From afar, she waved her wand and pressed the muggle doorbell. Taking a final glance at the daughter, she turned and hurried away from the orphanage in tears. If she did not leave now, she probably could never make her legs take her away.


	3. Four Years Later

**Chapter 2: Four Years Later**

"Can I hear a bedtime story tonight?" Four-year-old James asked his parents as they tucked him into bed. His parents were usually very busy with their work and they seldom tucked him in bed together.

"Ok." Harry chuckled as he pulled the broomstick-print duvet up to James' neck. "What story do you want to hear?"

"The story of the Supreme Seven." James thought for a while. His hands came out of the comforter.

"Alright. Let mummy tell you about it." Harry sat on James' left while his wife sat on the right side of James.

"Ok, it all started thousands of years ago..." Helen started, holding James' right hand as she spoke.

James was listening attentively for about ten minutes before his eyelids felt heavier and heavier. This had been his favorite story as far as he could remember. Slowly his eyes were closed and falling asleep.

"So, that's how the world of magic come about." Helen summarized the rest of the story quickly before James fell asleep.

"I wanna be one of them too." A sleepy James mumbled incoherently. Harry pulled up the comforter again and placed James' hands under it.

"You're going to be a great wizard one day, you know." Harry whispered softly into his ears.

"Mmm..." James muttered and fallen asleep. They gave him a kiss on his forehead and left his bedroom silently.

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"Look, I just use my eyes, then the chair will fly over!" A proud Sirius Black exclaimed as he stared at the blue-colored stool in the distant corner of the room. It whizzed across the playroom and landed nicely in front of him. He stood up from the floor and sat on the newly arrived stool, looking very smug.

"I can use my mind to do that too!" Stefanie Black shouted to prove her point and an orange-colored stool whizzed across the room in front of her. She got up and sat on the stool with her hands crossed in front of her chest.

"I can get that table over too." Sirius stared and the table zoomed towards him and landed in between them. Very soon, the toys in their playroom were whizzing across the nursery. Some toys actually met in mid-air and crashed. Both of them laughed and continued their little havoc when no adults were around.

"WHAT ARE YOU TWO DOING?" Came the voice of an exasperated Jeraldine Black at the doorway. Their mother marched into the room and stood in front of them, with her hands crossed at her chest and looking very stern.

CRASSSH! The small playhouse and tricycle crashed in midair and collapsed the moment they lost their concentration.

"Oops." The twins stood up from their stool immediately and exchanged a mischievous look.

"Look at the mess you created." Jeraldine pointed at the mess around the nursery for them to see. "Since you don't like your toys, and crashing them in midair, I'm going to give these toys to other kids."

"We love the toys." Stefanie said quickly. She wanted to keep all her toys.

"But they're spoilt. No one wants broken toys." Sirius pointed out.

"The house elves can fix them back together and give them to other kids." Jeraldine said in a disciplinary manner. As if on a cue, five house elves came into the playroom and using magic to fix the broken toys back together again and rearranged them magically back to the original position.

"Sorry, Mum." Both of them looked apologetically while exchanging a wink when their mother was not looking at them.

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Four-year-old Remus Lupin was playing with his toy figurines on the floor in front of his sixty-inch television. He had always loving watching shows on the medieval period, featuring the knights in old metal costumes and their princesses. Even as a young boy, he was very fascinated by the past. He had his own mindset on what a true hero was.

_I want to travel back through time just to live in that age. Life is so boring in the modern days._ Remus thought dreamily as the show went on while he maneuvered the figurines in front of him.

Having no siblings, he always had to play alone in the big nursery while his parents were out at work. And sometimes he dreamt about him as a knight in shining armor fighting, or a King doing the kingly activities. These activities always kept him entertained for hours.

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Arabella Figg was running around the playground playing a game of 'Police and Thieves' with her friends in orphanage basketball court. To her, they were more like brothers and sisters to her although they are not related in any manner.

After several more games, they got tired and their caretaker settled them down for a drawing session. Arabella was doodling on her big drawing block and drawing what was in her mind.

Suddenly, the scene blacked out. She saw her best friend Celeste fell down from the swing and her knee was bleeding severely. With a jerk, she got back into consciousness.

"Celeste!" She dashed out of the drawing room and the other students were looking at her in surprise.

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Lily Evans was sitting alone on the metal swing in the garden waiting for her parents to come home in the afternoon. She had loved to play on the swing at the playground so much that her father had bought one and placed in the garden for her.

Once again, Petunia had just bullied her when she did nothing wrong. She was being pushed down on the grass patch in front of her doorstep and had suffered some minor scratches on the side of her legs. It was hurting her and she did not know what to do. Her parents were out grocery shopping and Petunia did not allow her to go into the house.

"Why doesn't Petunia like me?" She thought sadly as she looked at her legs, trying to remove the grains of sand on the open wound.

She started touching them gently, thinking of an excuse to tell her parents, and yet not getting Petunia into trouble. To her amazement, her wounds healed instantly. _Wow._ She looked at her legs, which was smooth and fair with not a single scratch on it. _I healed myself._


	4. Time Flies

**Chapter 3: Time Flies**

Seven-year-old Lily Evans was walking home from school alone in the afternoon when she saw two boys hiding behind a tree suspiciously. Her home was two blocks away from the school she attended and she had took her hard time explaining to her parents that she could travel to and fro home without their assistance.

The two boys behind the tree saw her and seemed to frown a little. She ignored them and continued walking, nearing the park where she frequented with the neighboring kids. Still keeping an eye on them when suddenly she heard a loud crash in the park. A girl with dark brown hair, who was about her age, crashed her bicycle onto a large trunk at a nearby tree. The bicycle toppled and the girl looked like she injured herself. Lily ran across the park to help her.

"Ouch!" The girl looked like she was about to burst into tears. There was quite a deep gash on her right leg.

"Must be painful." Lily said sympathetically. She touched the open wound and instantly it healed, not even a scar was left.

"Wow, thank you!" The girl replied gratefully, obviously still in shock and amazement what Lily had done.

"It's okay. Please don't tell anyone about this. Thanks. I must go. Bye." Lily smiled at her as she helped the girl up and pulled up the bike for her. With a wave, she grabbed her bag and ran home. It was getting late.

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Helen Potter had brought the three children to a muggle park with cycling track for them to play while she sat at the café that overlooked the park. The three kids had convinced Mrs. Potter that they were old enough to play on their own.

With the adult out of sight, Sirius grinned at James mischievously. They had parked their bicycles beside them and were now hiding behind a large tree trunk and watched Stefanie cycling around the fountain. All they did today was simply meddling with the brakes of Stefanie's bicycle.

"She will attempt to brake soon." Sirius whispered. The Black family had just moved to this new wizarding neighborhood named Godric's Hollow and Sirius had gotten to know James. They hit off instantly and within a month, they were the infamous pranksters around their neighborhood.

"And then it can't work and she'll fall into the fountain." James replied and both boys were laughing in conspiracy. Suddenly James noticed another girl who walked passed them and shot them a suspicious look. He nudged at Sirius who turned and saw the girl but ignored her and reverted his attention back to Stefanie.

CRAASSHH! Stefanie's bicycle crashed onto the tree trunk and fell over, instead of crashing into the fountain, which was the original intention. Nevertheless, both of them gave a high-five and continued watching Stefanie.

Suddenly a redhead rushed towards Stefanie, the same girl as James saw earlier. Her bright red waist-long hair, tied into two ponytails, was swinging wildly behind her. She touched the wound on Stefanie's leg and suddenly the wound disappeared, without a trace of blood left even. The redhead then rushed off in a hurry immediately after that.

James stared at Sirius, awed. Sirius had the same expression on his face as well. Both of them walked towards Stefanie who was brushing some dirt off her leg and getting on her bicycle.

"She's a healer!" James was still stunned by what he witnessed. He had only heard about that from his mother's bedtime stories, now he witnessed one of them, and a very young one in fact.

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Remus Lupin ran towards the playground while his parents were sitting at the far end, watching him. They rarely brought him out and he was ecstatic to go to one of the largest wizarding playground in his neighborhood. Godric's Hollow was a large upper class residential area whereby many influential wizards and witches dwelled in.

There was another girl around the playground riding her bicycle, and two other boys playing around the slides. He turned behind and saw his parents talking to another two adults, probably one of the other children's parents. Most of the kids usually left the park by this time.

It was a night brighter than the others, with a full moon hanging up in the sky. The candle-lit lamppost flickered gently inside its holder. Remus played at the other side of the playground, away from the two boys and closer to the girl with bicycle, climbing up the steps and sliding down.

Suddenly, he heard a strange howling sound coming from behind the bushes not too far away. The leaves rustled loudly as if someone was hiding behind there. He felt the goosebumps at the back of his neck but ignored it and continued playing on the slide.

"AAAAAHHHHHHH!" A loud scream pierced the peacefulness of the park. Remus stood up immediately.

Something leaped out from behind the bushes and towards the little girl. Intuitively, he ran towards the frightened girl who had fallen off her bicycle and sitting on the floor, screaming.

_It looks like a wolf._ The girl was apparently too frightened to move away.

At that moment, he reached the girl and attempted to pull her away when suddenly the werewolf bit him on his leg.

"AAAHHHHHH!" He yelped in pain. The girl just looked up at him with frightened tears.

He heard his parents shouted a curse at the werewolf and it collapsed instantly and laid motionlessly. Another adult bent down and helped the terrified girl up while his mother made a call and his father carried him up.

"Dad, it hurts." Remus was in pain and tried to hold back his tears.

"T-than-nk y-you." The girl managed to mutter a grateful thank you in the midst of the chaos among the adults.

That was the last thing Remus heard before he fainted and everything went black.

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Arabella jerked and sat up on her mattress. She was in cold sweat. Looking around her, she saw her friends sleeping and assured herself that she was still in the orphanage and not some strange park. _Healer? Werewolf? What's going on? Who were those people at the park?_ Arabella thought and frowned. _I have never seen them before nor been to the park._ She slowed down her breathing and comforted herself that it was just a nightmare. Little did she know that these six children already had their destiny bound together since birth.


	5. Decade Long Separation

**Chapter 4: Decade Long Separation**

Lily Evans was reading her favorite storybook, _The Secret Garden_, for the third time on the living-room sofa when her sister walked into the room.

"So what could this _weirdo_ be doing, huh?" Petunia commented haughtily as she walked passed Lily on purpose and then headed towards the kitchen. Petunia had accidentally seen Lily displaying her unusual healing powers in the last few years and was forced not to tell anyone about it by her parents.

Lily ignored the comment as she continued reading. _Ignore her. Ignore her._ She looked up and saw her sister at the kitchen and revert her concentration back to her book.

"Ooh, reading a book huh?" Petunia, who had finished drinking her water and then headed back into the living room, and pulled Lily's long ponytail.

"LET GO OF MEEE!" Lily winced in pain, glaring at Petunia.

"What if I don't?" Petunia snickered menacingly and pulled her ponytails even harder.

"PETUNIA! What are you doing to your sister?" A voice boomed across the room from the hallway.

"Nothing at all, daddy." Petunia, instantly removing her hands from Lily's hair, put on the most innocent look and walked out of the room, while glaring evidently at her pretty younger sister.

Lily was massaging her scalp while looking defiantly at her sister. The pain was gone instantly and she released the rubber bands on her hair and retied the ponytails.

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"Catch me if you can!" James shouted over at Sirius in the air. He was flying on his new broomstick, Nimbus 1500, which he gotten on his birthday in January from his parents this year.

"No problem, Jamsie-poo!" Sirius replied. He too, had gotten his first real new broomstick, the same model as James, from his parents on his birthday in May this year.

They were whizzing around the quidditch field in Potter Manor for a few hours. After awhile, the sun began to set. They had gotten bored of just flying around the pitch. Then they flew around the vast gardens in Potter Manor. It was humongous, but they got bored of that as well after flying round the stretch of fountains for a while.

"Let's fly around the neighborhood, Sir-Sir-Poo," James called over his friend in the air, with an impish look on his face.

"Good idea, I was about to suggest that if you don't, we could probably go further than that." Sirius replied with a let's-try-something-more-daring look.

Stefanie was in skipping around the garden at Black's Mansion when she noticed what the guys were trying to do. Twins usually have extrasensory perception and she somehow knew that Sirius was going to do something wild. She ran into the house quickly, dropping her skipping ropes and grabbed her Nimbus 1500 from the store room and flew to chase after the guys. _Something is going to happen. I just know it._

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Remus was flying around his gardens alone on his Nimbus 1500 for the whole afternoon. Since it was the newest broom in town, practically all the rich children own one of them. It was getting late, and tonight was a full moon night.

He sighed and walked back into his large but empty house wearily. His parents were out in some Ministry meetings again. He was lonely. He did not attend any school but had private tutors who taught him every basic skill he needed from magic to languages. He had no friends ever since he became a werewolf._ Why me?_ He often wondered.

He changed out of his sweaty robes and two house-elves walked him towards a shack in the isolated corner of Hogsmeade and left after he entered the shack.

_What did I ever do to deserve this?_ He thought bitterly.

Suddenly there was a crashing sound behind him. The windowpanes were shattered and two boys about his age crashed straight into the room.

The two boys got up quickly and dusted themselves. Both identical guys were wearing expensive looking robes, which now looked dirty and torn.

The chocolate brown eyes of James Potter met with the light brown eyes of Remus Lupin. The blue-green eyes of Sirius Black met with the light brown eyes of Remus. Then the chocolate brown eyes James exchanged a look with the blue-green eyes Sirius. The three of them were standing stiffly and looking at one another, not knowing what to say.

As suddenly as everything was, Remus started his transformation.

"RUN! THAT'S A WEREWOLF!" Stefanie shouted from outside, noticing Remus was starting to transform. Ever since she had the close encounter with a full-grown werewolf, she had spent days to read and research on werewolves. Nevertheless, she still had a kind of phobia with werewolves, but at the same time, she was grateful for the boy who got bitten from saving her three years ago. _I wonder how is the guy who saved me three years ago._

The two boys grabbed their broomsticks that were lying on the floor and flew out of the shack to join Stefanie in mid-air.

The three of them turned back at a safe distance to take a one last look at the shack with the wild howling sound and flew home.

"Did you two know the dangers?" Stefanie reprimanded. "You two could just get bitten and become a werewolf, like him." The two boys remained quiet, exchanging a confused look.

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_There were seven figures, all standing in a circle, emitting some sort of light in their middle. These figures seemed to be colour coded. All of them were wearing a hood of a different colour. Looks like some cartoon heroes. Like power rangers?_

_Suddenly the scene changed._

_The black-colored person was talking to a snake in this strange language. A cobra? How could anyone communicate with a snake? That's really strange. Oh well, I'm in a dream, of course weird things could happen._

_The scene changed._

_The green-colored person seemed to performing some magical tricks. Things were changing from one to another. The matchstick became a sword? Wow! The feather became a book. The book looked ancient. Let me take a closer look. H-O-G-W..._

_The scene changed._

_The red -colored person was standing rooted at a place. A little too still. Suddenly there was a rush of mixture of spinning colours. Hey, wait a minute. I thought I was in a room a few seconds ago? Now? I'm in an ancient looking like place with a castle in front! What a magnificent castle in fact._

_The scene changed._

_The blue-colored person was staring at a tree. Suddenly the tree became a beautiful woman. What! Transformation? The blue-hooded person stared at the woman and she floated up around the room, as if he was manipulating all her movements. Oh my god! Better than David Copperfield in illusions._

_The scene changed._

_The orange-colored person did not seem to be moving at all. So still. Why were most of them standing or sitting so still on the ground anyway? The chairs and tables around her were moving as if she was controlling all the movements with her mind._

_The scene changed._

_The yellow-colored person was touching a seriously wounded person. Eeeww! So gruesome and bloody. Yucks. The blood just seemed to seep back into the skin and the opened wound closed up as if it was a rewinding. The skin was looking normally without a trace of scar or wound or blood. Oh my god! Doctor! Healer! Whatever it was._

_The scene changed._

_The violet-colored person was sitting in the middle of an empty but nice-smelling room. It smells of flowers, lavender with jasmine. Oh, what's on top of her head? A giant white mist? Looks like a screen. Am I watching her thoughts or what? Er... Did I see myself in the screen?_

_Rinnnggggg!_

_Ring?_ Arabella opened her eyes sleepily. The wake-up bell just rang loudly across the sleeping quarters. She could see her friends around her waking up unwillingly. She stretched her hands and gave a large yawn before standing upright.

_That was a really strange dream. Witches and wizards? The supreme seven? I ought to go publish a book based on this story line. Haha! _She chuckled at her strange but interesting dream. She often had all these sort of weird dreams, so it was nothing new. She gave a sleepy yawn and walk out of the dormitory to wash up with the rest of the sleepy girls. Being a ten-year-old and not exposed to anywhere out of the orphanage, she knew nothing about the world outside or her background.


	6. Owl Post

**Chapter 5: Owl Post**

Lily was having her summer holidays in June. She had just finished her primary school and now getting ready to begin a new life in a secondary school her parents had enrolled for her in September.

She was reading a Sweet Valley High book when she heard the click of the letterbox and the dropping of letters on the doormat. And as usual, she went to fetch the mail and stumbled across a thick and heavy envelope, made of yellowish parchment. She saw her name and address written on the envelope in emerald-green ink. _Strange._ _Weird, there's no stamp on this ancient looking thing. And it's for me!_ Lily turned the envelope around and eyed it suspiciously. She peeked though the letterbox hole and looked outside for traces of whoever had drop the envelope. _Nothing out there except an owl. Aren't owls nocturnal?_

Lily opened the thick envelope, which was sealed with a purple wax bearing a coat of arms: a lion, an eagle, a badger and a snake surrounding a large letter 'H'. _It looks so interesting and fascinating._

She pulled out the letter and read:

_HOGWARTS SCHOOL OF WITHCRAFT AND WIZARDRY_

_Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore_

_(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock,_

_Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. Of Wizards)_

_Dear Miss Evans,_

_ We are pleased to inform you that you have a place at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment._

_ Term begins on 1 September. We await your owl by no later than 31 July._

_Yours sincerely,_

_Minerva McGonagall_

_Deputy Headmistress_

She gotten into a slight daze and shocked upon reading. _What? I'm a witch? But how could that be possible at all? Witches don't exist, do they?_ She reread the letter again along with the other enclosed parchments. _Book list. Map. Hmm…_

Lily jumped to her feet and rushed towards her parents' bedroom, holding the stack of ancient paper tightly. _I can't believe it. _She showed the parchments to her parents zealously.

"Mum, dad, can I go? Pleaseee!" Lily asked pleadingly, giving her sad puppy dog look, which never failed to charm her parents into agreeing with her.

"Are you sure? This might be a prank from one of the neighboring kids." Daryl eyed the parchments apprehensively.

"This is real. I just know that it is." Lily said confidently. _This can't be a joke, right?_

"We'll erm… owl this lady – Minerva McGonagall – to confirm about this before we make the decision." Dawn suggested. "I think this is too elaborated to be a joke. I don't know. Just woman's instincts, I guess."

"But…" Daryl wanted to argue.

"Let's just confirm about this before making a decision." Dawn sided with Lily. Lily bit her lips nervously, hoping that her parents would agree.

"Alright then, my dear. As long as you are happy." Daryl gave in. Her parents shared the same skeptical look but agreed unwillingly.

"Thanks daddy! Thanks mummy!" Lily kissed their faces thankfully and she hurried down to write a reply for the brown owl, which was now waiting patiently for her by the living room windowsill. _This can't be a joke, can it?_ Grabbing a pen and paper, she thought about a reply, one that would assure her parents and herself that Hogwarts and everything else was real.

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Arabella was playing alone with Barbie dolls in the toy-room when a tawny owl flew in and dropped a letter in front of her. Her friends were all outdoors today but somehow she was not in the mood to be outdoors. Somewhere at the back of her mind told her that she would be expecting something weird today.

She opened the letter suspiciously and her jaw dropped upon reading the first parchment. _What? I am a witch? Oh my god! _"Wow." She looked through the remaining pieces of parchments excitedly. After regaining her composure, she rushed towards the headmistress' room and asked for permission to attend Hogwarts.

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James, Sirius and Stefanie were eating their dinner together at Potter Manor. James and Sirius were talking about Quidditch excitedly, totally ignoring Stefanie's presence while she ate silently.

"I'm going to be in the house Quidditch team by third year!" James said animatedly, taking another helping on the creamy chicken linguine.

"I'll be in there with you. I'm gonna be the beater!" Sirius exclaimed, finishing his fifth helping of beef lasagna.

"How could anyone ever eat so much cheese at one go?" Stefanie exclaimed, trying to change the topic out of quidditch and getting involved in their conversation.

Just then, Helen Potter entered the dining room and interrupted their conversation.

"Children, your letters to Hogwarts are here!" Helen held out three large envelopes up for them.

"Yeah!" They chorused, completely forgotten all about their scrumptious half-eaten dinner and went to read their long-awaited letter. "Hogwarts! Here we come!"

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Remus Lupin sat down, stunned. _How could I be going to Hogwarts? The finest school of Witchcraft and Wizardry. I think they must have thought I was normal. But no, I am a werewolf. No one wants to be associated to a werewolf._ Remus thought sadly as he folded the letter back

"Was that a letter from Hogwarts, dear?" Adam Lupin asked his son and sat down beside him on the large armchair in Remus' huge bedroom-cum-playroom.

"Yeah, they probably haven't heard that I had became a werewolf." Remus looked down on the floor.

"Honey, that can't be possible. Albus Dumbledore is the wisest wizard around. He wouldn't be sending this to you if he doesn't want to accept you." Adeline walked in and sat beside her son, putting her hand across Remus' shoulders.

"Does that mean I can go? But I am dangerous during the full moon. What can I do? I don't want to hurt anyone else in school." Remus said, eyes getting a little wet from the thought of hurting someone else and resulting in his duplicates.

"Dumbledore had already settled that problem, my dear. You will still be going to the same shack, now known as Shrieking Shack, every month without fail. He had already settled that problem. He'll be telling you the monthly plans by the time you get there. Just go ahead and be any other little boys who attend school. Nothing is going to happen to your schoolmates. Don't worry." Adam assured his son.

"Ok." Remus smiled sadly, but glad at the thought that he can finally attend school and have friends. _Friends? No one wants to befriend a werewolf._


	7. First Time at Diagon Alley

**Chapter 6: First Time at Diagon Alley**

"Are you sure this is the place?" Dawn Evans asked her daughter as she parked her second-hand Volkswagen Beetle in front of a tiny, grubby-looking pub, which was supposed to be famously known as the Leaky Cauldron by all magical people as stated in one of the parchments. It looked barely noticeable to most people, who just walked from the big bookshop on its right to the record shop on its left, ignoring the pub totally. If Lily had not pointed out the pub, Dawn would not have even noticed its existence.

"I'm sure this is the place, Mum. I see you in five hours time." Lily smiled confidently as she kissed her mother goodbye and got off the pale yellow car. She looked at the car as it went further and further. Then she turned around and look at the pub skeptically. _I'm not sure if I'm at the right place. This doesn't exactly seem like a place I have in mind._ She was having quite a bit of money in her wallet and was starting to feel the jitters. She swallowed her saliva and walked towards the pub, looking at the inconspicuous signboard that read 'Leaky Cauldron'.

"Excuse me?" Lily's thoughts were interrupted by a voice.

"Yes?" Lily turned and saw a young girl about her age and slightly taller than herself. She noticed that the girl had very rare purple-colored eyes. "Unusual eyes you got there."

"Thanks. You've got unusual fiery red hair too." Both the girls blushed and smiled at each other shyly.

"Anyway my name is Lily, Lily Evans. What's yours?" Lily asked smiling, holding up her right hand for a handshake. She rarely introduced herself to a total stranger in this manner.

"Arabella Figg. Nice to meet you." Arabella smiled warmly, returning the handshake.

"Anyway are you erm… going to the erm… Leaky Cauldron?" Lily asked curiously. She looked at the pub and looked at Arabella again.

"Actually I was about to ask you the same question. Are you – well - going to this school name er… Hogwarts or something?" Arabella asked, trying to find the right word, without sounding too weird.

"So you are a witch too?" Lily asked happily, glad to find someone in the same situation with herself.

"Yes. It's my first year. You too?" Arabella smiled, feeling utterly relieved. _This is real!_ She was equally glad that she had just made a new friend.

"Let's go together." Lily suggested as they started to walk into the Leaky Cauldron. The two girls looked rather lost at the smoky pub. Naturally they walked towards the bar counter.

"Erm, excuse me." The two girls tried to get the attention of the bartender.

"Yes? Diagon Alley?" The bald and toothless bartender said before they asked anything. The two girls nodded silently. "Follow me." Both of the exchanged a puzzled look and remain rooted at where they stood. "Don't worry, I'm taking you into Diagon Alley. This way." They followed the bartender but kept a safe distance in case if he might do anything.

"Two first-years without an adult." The bartender joked and both girls just smiled politely. He brought them to the courtyard and tapped the brick wall with a wand. And the most amazing thing was the brick wall moved _magically_ and opened up, revealing a stretch of busy street, known as Diagon Alley.

"Go on in, just come back here later." The bartender smiled. "Go straight to Gringotts first to exchange for wizardry money."

"Thank you." The two girls thanked the bartender gratefully and walked through the opened brick wall. Their very first step into the magical world.

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"Can't you just _hurry_ up?" Sirius groaned at his younger sister of one minute. James and Sirius had been pacing outside Stefanie's room for about five minutes so far. They were waiting anxiously but unwillingly for her.

"Coming, don't _hurry_ me!" Stefanie yelled back from her room, continued packing her bag as quickly as she could, trying to bring all the stuffs she needed.

"We're not waiting for you then." Sirius yelled back, about to head towards the fireplace at Back's Mansion, pulling James along.

"If you don't wait for me, I'm gonna tell Mum and Dad." Stefanie yelled out, as she brushed her hair quickly and tied it into a ponytail. She knew that this statement would be able to make Sirius waited for her.

"Girls." Sirius rolled his eyes at James. And James just returned with a smile. They stopped and waited outside Stefanie's room once again. It was the first time that they were be heading to Diagon Alley all by themselves, without the adults breathing down their necks.

After another five minutes of waiting, Stefanie got out and they finally head downstairs. Sirius was complaining to Stefanie non-stop about how slow she was being, making the two of them wasting their precious time to wait for her while they could be doing something more worthwhile at Diagon Alley. The three of them now had dangerously pocketful of Galleons, Sickles and Knuts jingling away in their pockets as they walk down the stairs towards the fireplace.

The threesome stood in the fireplace, dropped some glittering Floo powder and with a roar, the fire turned emerald green.

"Diagon Alley!" They shouted at the same time and they spun through a series of fireplaces.

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"Diagon Alley." Remus shouted from the fireplace at the Lupin Villa. He felt as if he was being sucked down a giant plughole. He seemed to be spinning very fast and the roaring in his ears was deafening. He kept his eyes shut tightly and the whirl of green flames made him feel sick in the stomach. _I hate traveling using Floo powder._ He kept his hands tucked in tightly while he was still spinning. He opened his right eye a little to catch a glimpse of what was going on and he saw a blurred stream of fireplaces and the rooms beyond. Suddenly the spinning stopped. He opened his eyes fully and saw the familiar surrounding of Diagon Alley. He had been here so often with his parents but it was the first time he came by himself since his parents are away in some meeting by the Ministry of Magic. Remus stepped out and took a deep breathe of the smell of the familiar and yet foreign Diagon Alley.


	8. Getting Acquainted

**Chapter 7: Getting Acquainted**

James and Sirius tiptoed and tried to shove their way to the front, just to peer through the thick crowd surrounding the glass windows outside Quality Quidditch Supplies, their all-time favorite shop in Diagon Alley. They caught a glimpse of the latest broomstick in town, Nimbus 1500, on the erected podium. Both of them shared the same I-have-already-owned-that-broomstick grins and squeezed out.

"We're going to bring our Nimbus 1500 to Hogwarts, whether allowed on not." James told Sirius softly as the two boys attempted to make their way to the entrance of QQS. "Who cares about the rules?"

"Of course, we aren't exactly the kind who're going to follow rules like that." Sirius replied swiftly. With quite a bit of 'excuse-me', they managed to make their way into the shop to look for other Quidditch related stuffs, not like they need any of those. Afterall, they were just getting prepared to get into their house quidditch team by third year.

uUuUuUuUuUuUuUuUuUuUu

Standing at the opened entrance of Diagon Alley, Lily and Arabella looked through their list.

HOGWARTS SCHOOL OF WITCHCRAFT AND WIZARDRY

Uniform

_First-year students will require:_

_Three sets of plain work robes (black)_

_One plain pointed hat (black) for day wear._

_One pair of protective gloves (dragon hide or similar)_

_One winder cloak (black, silver fastenings)_

_Please note that all pupils' clothes should carry name tags_

Set Books  
_All students should have a copy of each of the following_

The Standard Book of Spells (Grade 1) _by Miranda Goshawk_

A History of Magic _by Bathilda Bagshot_

Magical Theory _by Adalbert Waffling_

A Beginners' Guide to Transfiguration _by Emeric Switch_

One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi _by Phyllida Spore_

Magical Drafts and Potions _by Arsenius Jigger_

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them _by Newt Scamander_

The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection _by Quentin Trimble_

Other Equipment

_ 1 wand_

_ 1 cauldron (pewter, standard size 2)_

_ 1 set glass or crystal phials_

_ 1 telescope_

_ 1 set brass scales_

_Students may also bring an owl OR a cat OR a toad._

_PARENTS ARE REMINDED THAT FIRST-YEARS ARE NOT ALLOWED THEIR OWN BROOMSTICS._

Lily and Arabella looked at each other and shared the similar lost look on their faces. They looked up and saw the flurry of cloaked people moving in and out of the shops, holding many weirdly shaped shopping bags, and speaking magical jargon that they did not understand.

"First thing first, any idea where to get our robes?" Lily asked, looking through her list.

"I'm as non-magical as you're." Arabella shook her head and took a deep breath.

"Do they have a map of this Diagon Alley or something?" She looked around, trying to find a directory of the place, like those in muggle shopping center.

"Hi, you two seem lost. Do you need any help?" A girl with dark brown wavy hair approached them out of nowhere. She looked like about their age but slightly more petite and definitely seemed comfortable with the magical environment.

"Yeah, er, we are." Lily replied politely, and still looking confused.

"Well, I'm Stefanie, going to be first year at Hogwarts. Both of you are holding onto some parchment which looked like the Hogwarts letter that I have. So you two are going Hogwarts too?" Stefanie asked courteously, and smiling at the same time.

"Yup. Really glad to meet you Stefanie, I'm Lily Evans and she's Arabella." Lily introduced and they shook each other hand. A happy glow was radiating on her face.

"Arabella Figg, nice to meet you, Stefanie." Arabella said.

"So what are we waiting for? Let's go." Stefanie said happily and turned to walk. _Hmm, Figg, Mum told me in one of that bedtime story about a famous seer with the last name Figg. Could she be one of the descendent?_

"We don't know where we are supposed to go." Arabella replied, looking around Diagon Alley in amazement now instead of the previous confusion, thanks to Stefanie's aid.

"Oh, you two are from muggle family? Erm, I mean non-magical family?" Stefanie asked curiously.

"Yes, I supposed. We're from _muggle_ family." Lily answered, looking rather perplexed.

"It's ok. I can help you. I am from a magical family. Been here rather often, but today is the first time I'm here alone. Just ditched my brother at the Quidditch store."

"Quidditch?" Lily and Arabella questioned at the same time. Stefanie just smiled and started explaining the magical community to them.

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Remus was wondering alone in the Quality Quidditch Supplies when suddenly there was a crashing sound of heavy boxes from the other aisle behind him. Out of curiosity, he went over to take a look and found a whole pile of leather cases with the silver words of _Broomstick Servicing Kit_ on the ground.

The shop-owner came over and tried to clear the mess magically while checking for any broken items, muttering something incomprehensibly and checking out if there were any mischief around.

Just then, he heard two boys giggling softly behind him. One of them had short messy black hair and brown eyes and the other had longer and neater dark brown hair and blue-green eyes, both around his age.

"So you two did that?" Remus asks with a mischievous glint in his eye.

"Who? We? Nah, why would we?" The boy in dark brown hair replied with a fake innocent look.

"Haha. That was so obvious, you know." Remus grinned and he turned to walk out of the shop.

"Hey, wait, what's your name?" The boy in messy black hair rushed up to him and asked.

"Remus Lupin. How about you guys?" Remus looked at the two boys who stood on his both sides.

"I am James and he's Sirius." James said and winked at Sirius.

"We are both soon-to-be first years in Hogwarts and going to be the biggest pranksters there." Sirius replied and winked back at James.

"I'm going to be the first year there too. Nice to meet you, guys. See you on September first." Remus said and about to turn and walked over to _Flourish and Blotts Bookstore_.

"How about we shop together? You have the prankster potential in you, you know?" Sirius grinned cheekily, putting his hand over Remus' shoulder.

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The three girls shopped together all afternoon for their robes and books and pets and materials needed for potions, etc. Finally, from Stefanie's recommendation, they went towards Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlor. After ordering their ice cream and settling down at a corner, they started chatting excitedly about going to Hogwarts.

The three boys, upon finishing their shopping for school supplies, were heading towards the Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlor too, coincidentally.

As the girls were sitting on one end while the guys at the other, so they never managed to meet. As it was getting late, Lily and Arabella bid Stefanie goodbye and promised to meet up on at King Cross station to go through the Platform 9 and ¾ together. Stefanie then head towards QQS to wait for Sirius and James and head home together.


	9. September 1st

**Chapter 8: September 1st**

Lily woke up at six in the morning on the day of departure. She was feeling thrilled over the fact that she was a witch and was about to go to this magical school named Hogwarts. And according to Stefanie, that was one of the finest schools for witchcraft and wizardry in the magical world.

"I'm a witch. I'm a witch." Lily mumbled to herself as she practically jumped out of bed, the bed that she was going to miss badly for three months. "I still can't believe that." She hugged her pillow as she walked across her bedroom of eleven years.

Looking out of the window, she started thinking about her past, her present and a little of her future in school. _I'm going to be in school until Christmas break. It's wonderful to escape from Petunia. But I'll miss mum and dad. Well, it's only going to be three months._

She had this excitement in her ever since she received the letter from Hogwarts over a month ago. _I'm going to meet Arabella and Stefanie at King Cross in just five hours. I just can't wait to see them and get far far away from Petunia. _Lily smiled at that thought.

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Arabella had bid her headmistress and friends from the orphanage goodbye the day before. She had hugged Celeste tightly, her best friend there as far as she could remember. The hardest part was that she had to lie about the place she was going to; even her own headmistress had trouble believing it.

This was the first time she was leaving the orphanage. _I'm going to miss everyone here so much. Everyone seems to be heading to a new boarding school to study. I probably might not even be coming back here again. At least I have Lily and Stefanie now._ A tear flowed down her cheek as she sat on the swing at the playground, looking at the small but cozy little building that she had known as home for the last eleven years. _Four more hours and I'll be gone from here. Away from home. Forever?_

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Remus was eating his breakfast alone in the huge dining hall. The house elves, his regular companions since he did not have any friends, had served him his favorite breakfast dish today. His parents had just come by to bid him goodbye with kisses and hugs just before they apparated to work, like every other morning.

_I simply can't wait to go Hogwarts. It's so boring here. I'm so lonely. No friends. Anyway, who would want to befriend a werewolf?_ Remus thought sadly. _James and Sirius._

Suddenly, on the spur of the moment, he had an idea. He ran upstairs to his room and wrote a letter to his very first friends. _They are my friends._ Half excited, half worried, he was looking at the bedroom clock, which had just stroked nine. His house had a lot of muggle belongings since his parents had been doing much research on muggles when they started working for the Ministry.

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James had spent the night at Sirius' house again and was now lying rather awake on Sirius' king sized four-poster canopy bed. Sirius was still sleeping soundly and snoring a little beside him. His parents were away for meetings again. _I would rather have a father not working in the ministry._ _At least now that I've Sirius, it's not so lonely at home. My parents bid me goodbye a week ago and went on their business trip. Which parents bid their son a week before they leave? Well, but I know I'm going to have the most wonderful seven years at Hogwarts. I don't miss my home at all. I don't._

_Tap, tap, tap._ A light brown owl at the window interrupted James' thoughts. Since Sirius did not even stirred in his sleep, he had to dragged himself across the room to open the window for the owl.

Booommmmm! The owl's wing fluttered slightly at the shock of the loud noise.

"Wake up guys!" Stefanie barged into Sirius' room without knocking, slamming the door loudly. She was still in her pajamas but yet looked very awake for ten in the morning. "Morning James." Stefanie greeted merrily, a little too cheerful for the morning, and jumped onto Sirius' bed.

"Time to go!" She was pulling and dragging Sirius out of bed until Sirius was lying with his head drooping at the edge of the bed.

"Five more minutes." Murmured Sirius and he turned and grabbed a pillow to cover his ears and moved his head onto the mattress again. Stefanie jumped his other side and started pulling and pushing him vigorously. Finally Sirius gave up; he knew that Stefanie would never up until he got out of bed fully.

"Okay, you can stop now. I'm awake!" Complained a sleepy Sirius as his sister pushed him towards his bathroom. _What have I done to deserve a sister like this?_

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It was ten forty-five and Mrs. Black had dropped all the three kids at King Cross station. James and Sirius had left Stefanie alone to wait for her friends at Platform nine and three-quarters while they went across the barrier to look for Remus.

Lily and Arabella spotted Stefanie as soon as the guys left. Stefanie started pushing her trolley towards the wall between Platform nine and ten.

"We're going to walk into the wall?" Lily asked, eyeing the concrete brick wall skeptically.

"Yup, the guys had walked in already. No problem. We'll walk in together, okay?" Stefanie comforted, she was not too sure herself either. James and Sirius could be bluffing but since even her own mother said about walking through the wall, it must be a fact. Stefanie and Lily pushed their trolley towards the wall and closed their eyes, fearing the worst.

The next thing they saw was a scarlet steam engine with the name 'Hogwarts Express' waiting next to a platform packed with a lot of people and animals. The clock was showing ten minutes to eleven.

The three girls climbed into the train with their trunks, and found that it was already rather packed. They headed through a series of occupied compartments until they reached the last one.

"What are _you _doing here?" Sirius asked as the three girls walked in and settled at the seats across them.

"Why can't _I_ be here? This is not even your compartment." Stefanie retorted with her hands crossed in front of her, looking rather stubborn.

"Girls." Sirius muttered rather loudly, at least the girls could still hear that comment despite the loud noise the train was making.

No introduction were made or whatsoever. Lily and James shared a quick glance and they turned back to their friends. The guys started playing a game of Exploding Snap while Stefanie was telling Lily and Arabella about what she knew about Hogwarts and all the magical stuffs that she knew.

After several more games and the train had started moving for quite a while, James, Sirius and Remus sat closer together to discuss some upcoming pranks. The three of them had filled half their trunks with prankster supplies for the whole year. Remus had suggested a quick prank on the train in the letter that morning and they were thinking how to go about doing it.

James, Sirius and Remus then took some stuff from their trunks, hid in their pockets and walked out of the compartment with poise. The girls noticed that but ignored them completely and carried on with their conversation.

The next moment it sounded like chaos was coming from the other compartments. A series of clattering feet and screams were heard simultaneously.

James, Sirius and Remus rushed in and closed the compartment door quickly. They burst into laughter hysterically and were literally rolling on the floor.

"What did you guys do this time?" Stefanie asked with a tone of annoyance. It appeared like she was so used to their pranks.

"Nothing much. Just set some dungbombs in the all the compartments. That's all." Sirius grinned and the three burst out laughing again. The chaos died down after an hour or so. After that, the normal activities carried on as if it was any other train ride.

A prefect came in a few hours later and got them to change into their robes.

"You guys go out first." Stefanie told the three guys and pointed at the door. The three guys just shrugged and walked out without a hassle. And when they were done, the guys changed in the compartment as well.

"Looks dark." Lily commented, peering out of the window upon entering the compartment after the guys changed, looking at the distant mountains and forests under the dark purple sky.

After some time, the train slowed down and finally stopped.

"We will be reaching Hogwarts in five minutes' time. Please leave your luggage on the train, it will be taken to the school separately." An announcement was heard. All the students pushed their way towards the door and out on to a tiny, dark platform. The usually peaceful Hogsmeade Station was now filled with excited Hogwarts students.

"Brr… Cold." Arabella muttered. The six first-year-to-be followed the older students, as they appeared to be moving towards some carriages at some distance away.

"Firs'-years! Over here! Follow Hagrid!" A gigantic man with a long shaggy mane of hair and wild, tangled beard holding a lamp suddenly shouted over the crowd of students.

"I think we're supposed to go that way." Stefanie spoke up. The two girls nodded and changed their direction towards the hairy man who was standing closer to the lake.

The young and frightened looking first-year-to-be followed Hagrid down a steep and narrow path.

"Mind yer step!" Hagrid's voice could be heard. It was so dark on both sides that they could barely see anything. "Yer see o' Hogwarts after this bend."

"Ooooooohhh!" The gloomy and narrow path had opened to the edge of a great black lake and perched atop a high mountain on the other side was Hogwarts. The children stood in awed at the humongous castle with many turrets and towers.

"No more'n four to a boat!" Hagrid called out, pointing to the fleet of little boats parked at the shore. They students eagerly climbed into the boats once permission was given. Sirius got onto the same boat with the three girls while James and Remus shared the same boat with two guys named Lucius Malfoy and Severus Snape. "FORWARD!" The boats started gliding magically towards the castle.

"Heads down!" Hagrid yelled as the fist boats reached a cliff. The children bent their head as they sailed through a curtain of ivy, which hid a wide opening in the cliff face, about to enter a dark tunnel.

Sirius winked at James who was at the next boat behind him before they entered into pitch black and the next thing was splashing sounds. Sirius had pushed the three girls into the lake while James on the other boat with Remus had pushed Lucius and Severus into the lake.

A sudden chaos came upon the first years. They were chattering excitedly and looking over the darkness to see what happened.

"Aaah!" A guy named Frank Longbottom who was looking over curiously from the front boat fell into the lake as well.

Hagrid had taken quite a bit of time to fish everyone out from the lake and calmed the now even more frightened students. James, Sirius and Remus were trying very hard to hide their laughing spree while the three shivering girls along with drenched Lucius and Severus were glaring at them.

Upon reaching the shore, they walked through a grass patch, which was shadowed, by the castle while Hagrid was checking the people who climbing out of them. Finally, after much anticipation, they reached the castle and walked up a flight of stone steps and crowded around a huge door. Hagrid knocked three times on the oak door with his gigantic fist.

The door swung opened and a tall and black-hair witch with a stern face was waiting for them at the door. Hagrid lowered his voice and said something to the lady, with a nod from the lady, Hagrid walked away to another direction.

"Welcome to Hogwarts. I'm Professor McGonagall, also the Deputy Headmistress. Right now, all of you will go through the Sorting Ceremony." Professor McGonagall gave a relatively lengthy speech before opening the door wide and leading the new students across the flagged stone floor.

Lily and Arabella were feeling rather nervous about the sorting. No matter how much Stefanie tried to calm them down, it was not successful. The guys were adding more fabricated details about fighting dragons and knowing advanced magic. Lily and Arabella exchanged a fearful look. Those who fell into the lake were shivering in cold while standing in the middle of the empty chamber.

"The Sorting Ceremony is about to start. Form a line, now." Professor McGonagall told them. They followed her quickly and with fear into the Great Hall, which was splendidly lit by thousands of candles floating in mid-air. In front of them stood a four-legged stool and on top of it was a patched and dirty pointed wizard's hat.

Soon the sorting hat started to sing. _A singing hat? That's interesting._ Lily thought in amusement. Most of the other new students seemed to heave a sigh of relief that they might not be doing something of extreme difficulty.

Everyone in the Great Hall watched the Hat as it sang, as if it was a total new song. At the end of it, the whole Hall burst into appreciative applause and the frayed hat bowed and became quite still again. One by one, Professor McGonagall started calling the new students up to wear the hat.

After Sirius Black and Stefanie Black were sorted to Gryffindor, Lily was hoping she would be with her friend too. "Evans, Lily" came McGonagall's voice. She swallowed her saliva and went forward to the stool and sat down nervously. _Please put me in Gryffindor._ "GRYFFINDOR!" announced the hat. _Phew._ She walked towards the cheering Gryffindor table to join Stefanie and her brother while Arabella's name was called.

Arabella and Remus were sorted into Gryffindor as well, thankfully. Sirius was giving a high-five to Remus and they sat together. After a few more students being sorted to the various houses, it was their friend's turn.

"Potter, James." Professor McGonagall called out from her list.

James walked up, not nervously but anxiously. His only two friends were in Gryffindor. _Put me in Gryffindor, please. _The sorting hat seems to be reading James' mind as a small voice was saying that he would do great in Slytherin. _I only want to go Gryffindor._ He prayed silently. "GRYFFINDOR!" came the sorting hat announcement. James smiled to himself and got up quickly walking towards Sirius and Remus and started high-fiving with one another.

After the sorting, the headmaster, Albus Dumbledore stood up and beaming at the students with his arms opened widely. He gave a short speech and the food appeared suddenly on the empty plates in front of them. Lily and Arabella look amazed by that but nevertheless started eating after the fellow students commenced. James and Sirius were stuffing their face with food and look as if they had not eaten in days.

After the banquet, the Headmaster made some quick announcements and then they had to sing the school song. It felt like forever before they were dismissed from the Hall. The students followed their prefects namely Arthur Weasley and Molly Prewett up to the Gryffindor tower.

"Chocolate Frog" Arthur said to the portrait of a fat lady in pink dress. "Remember, this is our current password for Gryffindor tower."

The portrait swung open and revealed a room with red and golden tapestry. The two prefects gathered the first-years and gave them a short briefing before dismissing them for the night. The boys went through the door on the left and the girls went through the door on the right to their respective dormitories.

Introductions were made in the dormitory of five girls and all of them washed up quickly to prepare for the night. It had been a long day afterall.

Lily laid in her bed, deep in thoughts. _What a day it is. I'm a witch. Oh my god! I've trouble believing that myself. Well, I can't wait for the days to come. Hm... That guy by the name of James Potter is quite cute._ She smiled at the thought and soon fell into a deep dreamless sleep.

At the other side of the tower, James lay in his bed, eyes closed and about to doze off. _Evans, Lily. What a sweet name. She seems nice too. But nah, girls are just girls. _Within minutes, he fell into a deep dreamless sleep.


	10. The Beginning

**Chapter 9: The Beginning**

RRRIIIINNNNNGGGG!

_Argh!_ Lily opened her eyes unwillingly. She was starting to have this wonderful dream of James Potter when the alarm clock went off. _Where am I? This is not even my bed!_ It took her a few seconds before she registered the fact that she was a witch and now in the first-year dormitory in Hogwarts.

Lily dragged herself out of bed and headed towards the bathroom to wash up. _Am I anxious or what? First to be up. Once in a blue moon though. _Since it was the first day of school, she might as well be earlier for once.

It was already seven fifteen when she got out of the bathroom and changed into her new uniform robes and looked at her reflection in the full-length mirror. Arabella was now washing up in the bathroom. Stefanie was still sleeping soundly in bed and had not stirred since the alarm clock went off.

When Lily and Arabella were all ready to head down for breakfast, they winked at each other and jumped onto Stefanie's bed and started to tickle her all over.

"AAHHH! STOP! I'm up!" Stefanie struggled to free herself and then dragged herself into the bathroom while Lily and Arabella shared a high-five on her bed.

oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo

"All ready?" James mouthed to Sirius and Remus outside the first-year girls' dormitory as they stayed in their positions.

Both of them showed thumb-ups signs in return and waited impatiently for the three girls to come out of their dormitory. It felt like ages.

After about ten more minutes, they heard their door open and several footsteps and the door closed. The three girls were chattering happily as they walked down the spiral steps.

Sirius mouthed three, two and one at James and Remus. At that moment, there was a sudden huge downpour of what felt like water but reddish in color.

James, Sirius and Remus jumped down several flights of steps and dashed back to their dormitory instantly before the girls could say anything.

When they were safely locked in their dormitory, they burst into hysterical laughter.

"That was so hilarious!" Remus said in between his laughter.

"I reckon they still haven't found out who did it." Sirius said and burst into another fits of laughter.

"The look on their faces was priceless!" James said before he started laughing uncontrollably again.

oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo

"Sirius Edward Black, you're going to get it from me!" An angry Stefanie muttered in her breath, wild attempting wildly to wipe off the reddish stains. The three girls were now back in their dormitory after the ridiculous prank first thing in the morning.

"How did you know he did it?" Lily asked reasonably, while trying to dab the reddish paint off her face. She washed her face towel again and tried harder to remove the disgusting stain but to no avail.

"We've no proof." Arabella added as she was busy cleaning her face in the bathroom but the reddish paint seems to be stuck on permanent.

"I'm hundred and one percent sure that it was Sirius and James and maybe even Remus! Firstly, I saw them buying lots of pranking equipments at Zonko last month. I think they had bought enough to last for the entire school year! Secondly, remember yesterday Sirius pushed us into the lake? Lastly, it was targeted at us only! Why not someone else?" Stefanie muttered angrily as she tried to magic off the paint using some simple spells.

"This is not coming off no matter how hard I try. I think it might be permanent for some time." Arabella commented, looking a little horrified at her outlook in the full-length mirror. Every angle of them was stained red.

"This is useless. We're going to be late for breakfast if we continue. How about we just go into the Great Hall as normal, or perhaps even make a joke out of our reddish outlook if people start laughing? Then, meanwhile we can find some way to prank the three guys?" Lily suggested, eyeing the time on her reddish stained watch.

"Great idea. Let's go." Arabella said and tried dragging the sulking Stefanie out of the bathroom. "C'mon."

"What a way to start." Stefanie muttered.

oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo

"Look, they're coming." James mouthed to Sirius and Remus excitedly while trying to contain his laughter.

Everyone looked at the three reddish girls who were walking into the Great Hall at this instant. The hall was in silence for a few seconds before small giggles pop up here and there and that led to a series of simultaneous laughter.

Lily, Arabella and Stefanie walked towards the Gryffindor table and settled down at an empty space and started helping themselves to the toast and eggs. They were not talking much to one another and tried to ignore all the giggling sounds coming from the same table or the other house tables.

"What exactly happened to you girls? I'll not tolerate such nonsense." Professor McGonagall barked as she strutted towards the girls.

Lily started explaining the whole story with some additional fabricated details such as traps and tricks from James, Sirius and Remus. Professor McGonagall waved her wand and muttered a complicated sounding spell and the next moment the three girls looked normal in their black robes once again with the normal skin shade.

"Thank you so much, Professor." The three girls said gratefully before giving a smug look at the guys who were sitting some distance away from them.

The next thing heard down at the Gryffindor table was none other than Professor McGonagall's voice. "Mr. Black, Mr. Potter and Mr. Lupin, in my office right NOW!" A new topic of the first-year Gryffindors and Professor McGonagall seemed to pop up at the Gryffindor table conversation.

oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo

The three boys had to serve their first detention that week together in the hospital wing, cleaning off bedpans and other equipments without using magic.

"Without magic! Was Pommpy trying to _kill_ us?" Sirius groaned as he started scrubbing the bedpans, wiping harder and harder at his muttered under his breath.

"Well, this _is_ detention after all. Do you think Pomfrey will let us sit on that couch and use magic to clean the entire hospital wing as detention?" Remus said, getting lazier and slower by the minute.

"Let's have some fun out of it." James said with a mischievous grin as he took out an unlabeled tube from his pocket. It squeezed sticky substances that became invisible upon application and started applying it on the edge of the bedpans.


	11. First Christmas Together

**Chapter 10: First Christmas Together**

"I miss home." Lily said as she finished sending out another letter to her parents using her snow-white owl, Twinklebell. She turned and sat down in one of the large armchairs in the common room. It was a sunny afternoon outside but none of the girls felt like being outdoors today.

"Well, I don't have much of a home to miss, I supposed. I don't think I want to go back to the orphanage not that I don't miss my friends there or what. But it's just that, well, I don't know if I still fit into the muggle life. What if they ask me about school and sorts? How am I going to answer them? 'I'm a witch studying in a school that you have never heard of before.'?" Arabella sighed as she settled on the comfy armchair in front of the fireplace.

"Come and stay with me then. I would love some company though." Stefanie suggested excitedly. She jumped up from her armchair and ran towards the Arabella. The common room was rarely empty. Today was a rare exception because most of the students were out playing in the snow.

Just then James, Sirius and Remus walked into the common room, damp from their snowball fight. They went to settle themselves at the comfy armchairs in front of the warm fireplace.

"Who said that you guys are allowed to sit here?" Arabella said pointedly at Sirius with a tinge of annoyance.

"There is no rule saying that we can't sit here. Afterall, this is _our_ common room as well, just for your information." Sirius replied with a grin. His longish center parting hair was in a cute mess after the snowball fight.

"You guys are not welcomed to join our conversation. Besides we got here first." Stefanie added, settling herself in another armchair since Remus sat on the one she was sitting previously.

"We did not want to join your conversation. We just _wanted_ to sit on these comfy armchairs." Remus replied, grinning at Sirius, both guys laughing at Stefanie.

"Alright, let's not argue. How about we continue our conversation in our dorm?" Lily suggested, trying to be the peacemaker. Arabella and Sirius seldom remain in the same room for more than five minutes without breaking into an argument, or sometimes, more serious, a physical fight. Lily and Stefanie had spent most of the time pulling Arabella off Sirius because he annoyed her so much in just two months.

"We've gotten here first. These armchairs are usually taken. How can we let _them_ get it??" Stefanie emphasized and stayed put in a big armchair, no intention of moving.

"Well, since neither of us want to budge. How about we just have some nice and civil conversation here? So what are your Christmas plans?" James asked the girls casually as he sat on the mat in the middle of the circle of armchairs.

They finally started talking in a civilized manner now. Arabella and Stefanie still glared at Sirius for intruding. Remus was grinning at Stefanie. Lily and James were having a civil-sounding conversation, trying to get the rest to join in. After awhile, they relaxed and were talking amiably for the first time in three months.

"I believe my parents are going to have some boring Christmas party at home on Christmas Day this year. How about all of you come and join me? Sirius, Stefanie, Remus and I had to make an appearance in that party. After that we can have a mini party in one of the rooms without disturbing the adults. Fion said that she misses Sirius and Remus in the last letter and suggested that I can invite some friends over for Christmas." James announced, sounding more serious than usual.

"I know I'm so irresistible that even a lady of twenty-one misses me after my three months of absence." Sirius said cheekily as he dodged a huge cushion from James, which subsequently hit Lily straight on her face.

"Ouch." James grinned and Lily smiled, she was not the petty sort of girl.

"I think that's a great idea. We can all have a gathering at the Potter's Manor. If possible, we can stay together till the end of the break and we can head back to Hogwarts together." Remus suggested, getting a little excited.

"What makes you guys think that we girls want to join you?" Lily commented wittily.

"Lily, you _need_ to. I can't imagine being stuck with the three of them for the entire break! I need a break! Besides Arabella is going to stay with me at my place. So that left you." Stefanie said, looking at Lily with puppy dog eyes, which Lily seldom said no to that.

"Well, I gotta ask my parents first. I want to spend my Christmas with them. Then I'll come and join you guys on Christmas afternoon onwards then, if possible." Lily said thoughtfully.

"Yes!! Three cheers to Christmas!!" All the six jumped up in joy. They went up to their respective dormitories. The girls were planning on pranks to deal with the guys during the break, so were the guys.

3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3

"Merry Christmas Mum! Merry Christmas Dad!" Lily kissed her parents on Christmas morning. She had bounced down the stairs excitedly in her pyjamas.

"It is okay that I can go and join my friends from afternoon onwards right??" Lily reconfirmed with her parents.

"Yes dear, you may go. Enjoy yourself and we'll see you during summer. You've asked _so _many times already." Dawn Evans hugged her daughter.

"Thanks Mum! Thanks Dad!" Lily jumped and head towards the Christmas tree and start unwrapping her presents.

Lily had gotten a silver bracelet with little silver lilies dangling on it from Arabella and Stefanie. And she had gotten a book _Quidditch for All Ages_ from the guys. Her parents had brought her a broom from Diagon Alley, Nimbus 1500. _I can't believe mum and dad would spend so much on me. This broomstick is really expensive. _Petunia had given her a packet of tissue, which was normal for her. And she had gotten some other simple presents from her grandparents, relatives and old schoolmates as well.

After clearing away her presents, Lily got up to pack her stuffs and get ready to head towards the Potter Manor. She had a quick lunch with her parents and kissed them goodbye before heading towards the fireplace with her backpack and her new broom. The bracelet jingles as she grabbed the Floo powder that James had sent her via his owl and dropped in the fireplace. This was the first time that Lily used Floo powder. James had even made sure that Lily's fireplace was connected to the Floo Network for today.

"Potter's Manor" she said clearly. The next thing she could feel was being spun.

"Lily!" Stefanie and Arabella rushed over to the fireplace and hug the slightly dizzy Lily. Then each of the guys gave Lily a bear hug as well.

"Wow! You've gotten a Nimbus 1500 as well. Now all of us own the same broom. Let's aim to join the quidditch team next year!" Arabella said excitedly. She had gotten Nimbus 1500 from the guys. It was an expensive present, but well, the guys belonged to affluent families. Honestly, Arabella had been surprised to receive it from the guys. _I can't believe someone like Sirius can actually suggest something like that. Maybe he isn't so bad after all._

All of them grab their Nimbus 1500 and headed towards the Potter's quidditch stadium. Lily barely had time to digest the huge mansion that James stayed in. _It looked like a castle. Wow. James is not only rich. He is very rich! Oh my god! There are like a hundred rooms here._

"Mount your brooms." James instructed and they started flying in the air. It was a game of girls versus boys. They played for the whole afternoon and until evening.

"Hey kids!" a female voice boomed across the entire quidditch stadium.

"I'm not a kid!" James yelled and landed in front of the lady. The rest of them follow suit.

"Hi, my lovely lady, it had been a long time." Sirius said as he grabbed her hand and give her a kiss.

"Haha, thank you, my lovely _little _Sireesy." The lady responded with a smile. Sirius blushed rather furiously from the way she addressed him. This was rather rare because Sirius seldom blush at anything.

_She's gorgeous._ Lily thought. The lady had a long raven black hair that reaches up to her hips. The long hair had streaks of golden highlights and was nicely curled. She was quite fair with a radiant pink glow on her flawless face. Although she was wearing just a plain white spaghetti top and blue hot shorts with a pair of black slippers, she looked stunningly pretty in a simple outfit.

"This is Lily Evans, Arabella Figg and that's Remus. He's been here only once. And she's Fion, my older sister by _ten_ years." James introduced.

"Harlow. Nice to meet you all." Fion smiled at all of them, showing a row of white and straight teeth.

"Hi, Fion. You are really gorgeous." Lily complimented sincerely.

"Thanks Lily. You have beautiful red hair yourself." Lily blushed while the rest of them giggled.

"Can't we play for awhile more?" James asked, pouting.

"No, Jamesie darling, all of you gotta be nice and clean by dinner. The party is starting at 6.30 and it's already 5 now. The girls need to get ready. Look at you! You three better go and wash up. Come on girls, let's go dress up together." Fion suggested.

"Don't ever call me that!"

pPpPpPpPpPpPpPpPpPpPp

"I feel weird! This is the first time I'm very something like _this_." Lily proclaimed as she stared at herself in front of the 3-sided full-length mirror in Fion's humongous bedroom. _Wow. This room area is bigger than my entire house. _Her hair was let down in big waves with some butterfly clips on the top for the criss-crossed strands. She was wearing a simple spaghetti emerald green colored dress that reaches her ankles. The dress flattered her eyes and her creamy skin tone. It would flatter her curves on the waistline and chest if she was older and more developed._ But I must admit that I look pretty in this_.

"So do I." Arabella came out of the bathroom and stood beside Lily to have a proper view of her. She had a silver colored hairband on her brownish-blonde hair, which was in slight waves as it flowed all the way down to her waist. Her hairstyle and dress made her looked at least fifteen because of her height. Arabella, standing 1.5m, was the tallest among the three. Her purple toga dress had a slanted skirt-line with the long end reaching her ankle while the short end was slightly below her knee. _I never thought I would look like this. So princessy!_

"Hmm.. I look okay right, Fion?" Stefanie asked as she paraded around in her short white halter-neck dress. Her smooth back can hardly be seen because her straight dark brown hair had covered it until her waist. Stefanie was a little more developed with some minor curves. Her while halter-neck dress made her look like an angel, what she needed now was only a halo and wings to complete the angelic look.

It was a coincidence that all three girls had long hair that reaches their waist and they had no plans of cutting them in the near future. They quickly wore matching shoes and gave themselves one last glance in the mirror before they left Fion's bedroom.

"Thank you very much for your dress and your shoes and everything." Lily said and smiled at Fion sincerely. Arabella followed up with her thanks and appreciation while Stefanie had brought and wore her own outfit.

"You can keep the dresses and shoes, I can't wear them anymore." Fion smiled at both girls. _I really like Lily. She felt like the younger sister that I would like but never had._ Fion excused herself from the girls and went to join the adults in the hall.

_She is so wonderful. How I wish Petunia were like that. But Fion is a billion times better and prettier. Her black bareback dress fit her so perfectly. Her long raven black hair with golden highlights is now piled up on her head using those pretty silver clips and exposing a smooth back. She sashayed down to the hall with grace and elegance that I never thought any woman could have. _Lily was looking at Fion until a sudden laughter broke her concentration.

James, Sirius and Remus were walking over from the opposite direction. James was wearing a white tuxedo; Sirius was wearing a black tuxedo while Remus was wearing a brown colored tux. What a transformation from the three boys who were playing quidditch earlier, to the three young gentlemen standing in front of them. They met up just before the steps that led towards the hall.

_Wow. Lily looked like an angel._ James got out of his little trance and walked towards Lily.

"May I?" James held out his right elbow for her to grab.

"Huh? Er.. sure. Who taught you that?" Lily found it amusing for James the big prankster to do something so gentlemanly especially since he was only eleven.

"Since young. All these gentlemanly manners had to be observed in these sorts of parties. I did this with Fion back then before she had a boyfriend." James replied and turned to look over at his sister standing next to a guy, who looked like her boyfriend.

"No wonder. I can't believe the infamous school prankster can be as gentlemanly as this." Lily giggled.

"Well, there are a lot of things you don't know about me. Anyway, I'm starving. Let's go and get some food." James said as he led Lily to the dining hall.

Sirius followed James suit and took Arabella's hand while Remus took Stefanie's. All the three pairs headed towards the dining hall.

pPpPpPpPpPpPpPpPpPpPp

Before they knew it, it was time to head back to school the day after.

"We actually had fun without pranking the guys in the last week." Lily commented suddenly while packing her stuffs into her backpack.

"I don't remember ever having so much fun at these parties. Remus was so unlike his school-like self." Stefanie sighed as she laid on the bed.

"Well, we all had fun, didn't we? Sirius was like _sooo_ gentlemanly. I thought he was possessed!" Arabella commented and smiled at the thought.

"James was pretty interesting too. At least now I know that he had such a gentlemanly and well-mannered side of him." Lily added and folded the dress that Fion had given her for the party.

That night the three girls had very long and sweet dreams about the party.

pPpPpPpPpPpPpPpPpPpPp

"Hogwarts, here we come!" James shouted as he dashed towards their favorite compartment at the end of the train.

"Wait for us!" Lily shouted at him, tugging her heavy trunk behind her.

"Help me with my bag!" Stefanie pleaded as she tried to lift her bag onto the train. She was not joking when she said her bag was heavy.

"Where's my dungbombs? JAMES!!" Sirius, upon realization on his loss of dungbombs, chased after James.

"SIRIUS EDWARD BLACK! Change my hair back to normal!" Arabella ran after Sirius, with her wand in front and her lavender-coloured hair flowing behind.

"Your hair matches your eyes now." Sirius shouted back to her without stopping his run.

Remus was walking behind all of them, amused at their child-like behavior, which was in total irony when compared to the day at the party. He had helped Stefanie with her bag. The three matured looking lady-like girls a few days ago were running around chasing the guys, who were perfect gentlemen just days ago. _These are my friends. But what would happen if they know that I'm a werewolf?_


	12. End Of First Year

**Chapter 11: End of First Year**

It was nearing the end of first year. Everyone was packing his or her trunks, preparing to head home for the summer holidays. Only left with one more week to go. The results were out and Lily was the top witch for the first year and James was the top wizard for their year. Lily topped in Charms, James in Transfiguration, Sirus in Defense Against Dark Arts, Remus in History of Magic, Stefanie in Herbology and Arabella in Potions. Each of them seems to have their own strong points and made up the top six students for their year.

Before anyone knew, it was the day before the end of first year. The six of them gathered around the fireplace in Gryffindor common room that night. Everyone was already in bed; all prepared to head home the next day. They were now talking and reminiscing over the past year.

"I had one hundred and six detentions this year, beaten you guys." Sirus boasted.

"Well, I only lost you by one because two days ago you took the credit for a prank I did on Snape!!" James retorted. Severus was down with flaming red hair because he had knocked onto James on purpose and he gotten angry and charmed his hair to another colour again. Professor McGonagall had come by and gave detention to Sirus instantly because his wand was pointing suspiciously at Severus. 

"No fight, I only has a hundred and two. I was away while you all get caught in the pranks and hence, I didn't get the detention. That's not fair!!" Remus added, pretending to sulk a little.

"What with the detentions??" Lily asked. She had only been to one detention so far. And that was for the major prank the girls played on the guys in the second week of first year. It was not because the she did not play any pranks in the year. The guys were constantly fighting for the credit to get sent to detention, and of course, being one of the best students, none of the teachers had believed that Lily could be such a great prankster.

"I had two. Not the least either." Stefanie added, not into the mood to compete with that had the highest.

"Three for me. But then judging from the amount of pranks we girls pulled as compared to you guys, we simply don't get ourselves caught that easily and waste time cleaning bedpans or wiping trophies." Arabella said with a smirk.

"Next time you girls can let me get your credits then, I need some extra detentions to beat them out!!" Remus told Stefanie and Arabella.

"Well, we've the whole summer to think of pranks to deal with Malfoy and Snape next year. The typical colored hair and words on clothing had gotten boring, you know." Lily suggested with a mischievous grin. The six of them had condemned the Slytherins since the day they called Lily and Arabella mudbloods in the first week of school. The Slytherins were their objects of fun in school.

"Great idea. How about we meet up together at my house in the last month of the summer holidays??" James suggested his place once again.

"Why is it always your house?? My house isn't as big as yours, but it's definitely not small either." Sirus added pointedly.

"You know I don't mean that. It's like since Christmas when you all came, the rooms that you all occupied during that stay had officially became yours. If you all come again, it would be the same room. You girls still have your room of course. Well, Sirus, you practically _stay_ at my house since we were four to escape from _your_ sister. So, now you decided that we should stay at your house instead??" James teased Sirus. The whole group burst into laughter and Sirus started blushing a little.

"I did not escape from _my sister_. I just did not like her company. By the way Jamesie, you stayed at my house half the other time because you feel lonely at home and the room across mine belong to yours solely." Sirus retorted.

"Don't call me that Siriee!!"

"You teased me first!!"  
  


"You teased me first!!"

"Calm down guys!!" Remus cut into their arguing conversation. James and Sirus settled onto the armchair and started laughing.

"Let's visit each other?? Since Arabella stay in the orphanage, I don't think we can go, so perhaps she would like to stay with Stefanie again??" Remus turned to Arabella. "So we all gather at Lily's place to fetch her from the Evans first. That is, if your parents are ok with the crowd, Lily?"

"I'll ask my parents first. Owl you guys about it." Lily nodded at Remus.

"Then we can stay at my place for a couple of days. Then you all moved on to Black's Mansion because I had some personal matters to attend to first, before joining you all again at Potter's Manor the week after. How's that arrangements??" Remus asked the group.

"That's a brilliant idea, Remus." Lily smiled at Remus.

"Bloody brilliant dude!!" Sirus slapped Remus' back.

"Language my _dear_ brother!! I support that idea too." Stefanie added, smiling.

"It's wonderful!!" Arabella smiled happily.

"I guess that's settled then. We owl each other for updates?? Anyway it's nearly dawn, we can head down for breakfast soon." James suggested as the first rays of the sun shone through the windows into the common room of the Gryffindor tower.


	13. Summer Holidays

**Chapter 12: Summer Holidays**

James, Sirus, Remus, Arabella and Stefanie had headed over to the Evans to fetch Lily over a month ago. Then they flooed Lupin Villa and stayed for a week. Mr. and Mrs. Lupin were ecstatic to see Remus' friends and had even allowed the kids the freedom of having the entire house. They had several games of quidditch at the Lupin's quidditch pitch during the stay, then they spent the nights watching the sixty-inch television and even learnt to use Remus' computer. All of them had enjoyed themselves tremendously during that week.

At the end of the week, the five bid goodbye to Remus and headed towards the Black's Mansion via the Floo Network. Remus said that he had some personal matters to attend to and was unable to join them until a week later.

"What a beautiful moon!!" Arabella commented as she looked out of the balcony from Stefanie's room.

"Full moon? Hmm.. Do you think this could be the reason why Remus is away?" Lily asked thoughtfully.

"Why did you say that?? Don't tell me you think Remus is a.." Stefanie said, shuttered at the thought that Remus could be a werewolf. Her encounter with a werewolf five years ago still haunts her till today. _I wonder what happened to the boy who saved me._

"It is possible. I noticed that he is away once a month during the full moon night, and skipping lessons the next day. And when he's back, he always look tired with those black eye bags. I've seen some bruises on him before, which appeared to be healed magically in a few days." Lily added as she recalls the times she seen Remus looking like that after the full moon night every month.

"Come to think about it. If that's the case, why doesn't he tell us?" Arabella asked. _Werewolf. Didn't I have a dream about a werewolf when I was younger?_

"Werewolves are not accepted in the magical community. Remus may be a pure blood, but if he is a werewolf, his words and actions will be seen as erm.. well.. not trustworthy." Stefanie said as she tried to find the right words.

"So, the conclusion is Remus is a werewolf." Arabella asked.

"But, let's keep it as a secret. Don't even tell the guys!! I don't think he is ready to tell anyone of us now. We shall pretend that we don't know about it. Anyway whether he is a werewolf or not, Remus is my friend and will always be." Lily said, looking out from the balcony. _Remus can't be a werewolf, could he??_

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"Do you think Remus is a werewolf?" James asked Sirus suddenly after he instructed his castle to move right. It was boring and they had no one to prank on. So leaving with not much choice, they started playing wizard chess after many games of Exploding Snap and Gobstones. Moreover, Remus was not there and they felt that something was somewhat missing.

"Well, I did thought of that. I mean he's always away with some lame excuse on the full moon night."

"No wonder he always have that sad and lonely look in his eyes."

"What can we do about that anyway?"

"I know werewolves are harmful towards human, but to animals, they are harmless." James said as he thought about what he had read about werewolves.

"Does that mean we can become animals and keep him company?"

"But how? I think there could be some kind of potion or perhaps charm to turn us to animals for one night."

"Well, I think I read somewhere about something known as Animagi. But I'm not too sure what exactly it is." Sirus scratched his head as he start thinking where he had came across the word.

"Oh merlin!! Sirus Edward Black can read??" James asked in amusement as he started laughing.

"Hey!! And Checkmate!!" Sirus grinned.

"Not fair!! I wasn't concentrating." James exclaimed.

"Well, you lose and I win!! Simple as that." Sirus started dancing around his room.

"Anyway back to Remus, shall we confront him the next time when we see him?"

"I like the idea of pining him onto the ground and force him admit that he is a werewolf." Sirus grinned at the thought.

"That's not the point!! So we ask him when he come and join us next week then?? Next game." James gave Sirus a cheeky look. They had made a bet of ten galleons for the winner that night and James was only leading by two games now after that loss.

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"REMMIE!!" James and Sirus rushed towards the fireplace dramatically as soon as Remus walked out dusting the soot off him.

"JAMIE!! SIRIE!!" The three guys gathered into a bear hug.

"Remus!! So glad to see you!!" Lily gave Remus a sisterly hug.

"Hey Bella, how are you?" Remus gave Arabella a big brotherly hug.

"Yo Stefie, miss you so much!!" Remus gave the same bear hug but lingered a little longer.

"Let's take Remus to his room." Sirus instructed as he lead Remus away from the girls. The girls gave each other a confused look and headed back to Stefanie's room.

Once the three guys stepped the room, James locked the door and Sirus Sirus jumped onto Remus and pinned him down.

"So why were you away last week?" James asked curiously.

"My grandpa was ill." Remus answered without hesitation. It seems like he had prepared for this question.

"Do you think we buy that?" Sirus asked cheekily and gave James a wink.

"W-What do you mean?" Remus asked, confused and fearful at the same time.

"Admit it, Remmy. We know about it already." James sighed.

"W-What are you talking about?" Remus enquired, a fear was creeping up to him.

"That you are a werewolf." Sirus said and released Remus.

"H-How did you guys know?" Remus asked, trembling at the thought that his only friends had found out his darkest, deepest secret.

"We knew about that before Christmas. Being your good friends, we just wanted to hear it from you. But you never admit." James said, as he positioned himself on the carpet.

"I-I don't know. Well, I guess I know what's going to happen." Remus sighed, grabbed his stuff and turned to head out of the room.

"Where are you going?" Sirus shouted and went after him.

"Home."

"Why are you going home?" James looked at Remus quizzically.

"I understand that werewolf is not welcome and never accepted in the magical community." Remus said, without turning back because tears were starting to form in his eyes. _I thought I had found friends._

"You are welcome and will always be accepted by us, Jamesie and the Great one, which is commonly known as Sirus Black." Sirus said proudly.

James threw a pillow at Sirus and even Remus turned around and smiled at the comical scene.

"Remmy, you'll always be part of me and Sirus. Just because you're a werewolf doesn't mean anything. You'll always be our best friend whether you're a werewolf or Remus." James said sincerely as he put an arm around Remus to steer him back into the room.

"That's right. We'll always be here for you. And that's why we are coming up with some brilliant plan so that you won't feel lonely being a werewolf." Sirus added excitedly.

  
"How?" Remus questioned, with a slight smile at his friends.

"Well, we're still thinking about that. Anyway how did you become a werewolf?" Sirus asked, trying to change the topic quickly.

Remus started his story about the time he was at the park when he was seven.

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Their last week of summer holidays had ended too soon. They had spent the whole week playing quidditch regularly, sitting around in the large hall chatting and playing wizarding games, and even played the muggle hide-and-seek and 'police-and-thieves' in the huge garden in Potter's Manor.

"That was so fast!" James sighed as he settled himself in his favorite green couch.

"Time always flies when we're having fun." Lily told him.

"Shall we do this again next summer??" Sirus suggested.

"Well, it's nice to be prank-free and yet having so much fun!" Arabella commented.

"But well, don't we all _love_ lessons?? Just think of how _interesting_ Professor Binns' lessons are getting." Stefanie said, emphasizing certain words.

"Potter!! Black!! Lupin!! In my office _now_!!" Remus was pretending to sound like Professor McGonagall.

All the six burst into giggles. They continued chatting into the wee hours of the night until their eyes can barely be kept opened. All of them fell in deep sleep on the couches in the middle of James' substantial bedroom.

"Wake up!! You are late!!" A female voice was booming.

"Mum, it's still early." James said sleepily and turned around but stuck because it was a couch and not his king size bed.

"It's ten-thirty already!! Do you all want to travel to Hogwarts via train or another manner??" The voice boomed.

_The voice sounds so familiar._ Lily stirred in her couch. She opened her eyes a little, but the light was too glaring.

"What's going on?" Stefanie groaned.

"Five more minutes please, Mum." Sirus said and covered his head with a cushion.

Suddenly there was a large downpour of cold water on the six of them.

"What's going on?" Remus stuttered, fully drenched and feeling cold.

"Someone close the windows." James said and continued to sleep.

"What's happening??" Arabella said and got up slowly.

"FION!!" Lily shouted happily and went to hug her.

"What is Fion??" James muttered. By now all the five kids were awake except James, who had been too used to this sort of waking up call to realize what was going on.

"James, if you don't wake up at this instant. Your broom will be confiscated." Fion muttered a spell and a deep and manly voice came out of her mouth.

"NOOO!! Dad!!" James jumped up from the couch, fully awake and fully wet. All of them burst into hysterical laughter as they saw what James had just done.

"That's not funny!!" James was blushing furiously. _Trust Fion to humiliate me at this sort of timing._

"It's ten already. You kids better hurry up or else you are going to miss the train. Forty five minutes to get ready and we're going to floo over to King Cross." Fion told the drenched and half awaked kids in a rather bemused kind of tone.


	14. The Ride Home

**Chapter 13: The Ride Home**

"James, if you are not going to hurry up. Your broom will be confiscated." Remus, pretending in his deepest and most manly voice, instructed James as he carried his trunk up the train. Remus' voice had shown the first sign of breaking while James and Sirus still retained their rather normal pitch.

"Nnnooooooo!! Daddy!!" Sirus, pretending to sound like a very girlie James, in his highest possible pitch, responded to Remus.

The five of them burst into laughter again. _They are not going to let me leave that down._ James thought as he could feel his cheeks reddening. They had been joking about that the entire ride from home to King Cross. This is the third time they are making that joke in the last hour.

The guys helped the girls to lift their trunks unwillingly up the train and all of them made their way towards the last compartment quickly. Then they all waved goodbye from the window in the last compartment to Fion who was standing at the platform and soon, the train was on its way to Hogsmeade station.

"Get off now." Lily, being the smallest and skinniest at a height of 1.5m, said as she tried to crawl out from the pile of people who climbed behind her to wave. 

James, Sirus and Remus got down and gathered together in the corner of the compartment, discussing some highly secretive stuff and had totally excluded the girls, who were now sitting at the opposite end of the compartment.

"Help!!" A short boy dashed into the compartment, startling all of them.

"What's going on??" James asked the boy.

"A group of boys.. attack me.. wands.. spells.." The fair and rather plump looking boy was saying, panting heavily. He quickly ran towards the back of the compartment and tried to hide himself.

Just at that point of time, the door banged opened. Four guys with unfriendly looking faces stood there.

"Oh wow!! Here's the potty gang!!" Lucius Malfoy said. Vaness Crabbe and Gordon Goyle laughed at Malfoy's little joke.

"Hand him over!!" Severus Snape instructed.

"Why should we??" Sirus said in defiance.

At that point of time, a "Petrificus totalus" was heard from the corner of the compartment.

Malfoy and his gang drop onto the ground instantly in a full body-bind.

"Mobiliarbus." Lily shouted and moved the four guys to another corner of the compartment and stacked them on top of one another with Lucius at the bottom and Severus on top of Lucius. Vaness and Gordon, being much bigger size than the two were piled on top of the two skinny boys.

"Lily, you should have left that to us. Now we haven't any _toys_ to play with." Sirus said, wiping off a pretended tear.

"Well, we still got the feast to deal with." Arabella said with a glint in her purple eyes.

Once again, the three guys headed back to their corner of the compartment and took a bag of stuff each and went out of the compartment. The boy who had rushed in earlier said grateful thanks and left the compartment.

"I bet you three galleons that the stuff in those bags are dungbombs." Stefanie said.

"No bet, we all know what is it. Can't they come out with a better trick this year?? Still call themselves the school pranksters." Lily rolled her eyes and the three girls went back to their corner in the compartment and continued their game of Exploding Snap, with the four Slytherins stacked in the corner.

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James winked at Sirus and Remus as they watched Hagrid leading the first years to the lake for the traditional first-years journey.

"All righ', you six??" Hagrid yelled over the heads of the crowded platform. They returned his question in thumb-up signs since there was no way they could reply him in the noisy platform where all the students were much taller and bigger sized than them.

The sextet, who had no idea how to go to Hogwarts, had no choice but to follow the older crowd to a rough mud track. The girls board one stagecoach while the guys board another. Once the carriage door was shut, the coach set off all by itself, bumping and swaying towards Hogwarts.

The carriages swayed to a halt and a mass of students alighted. The guys happened to meet up with the girls along the way and walked up the stone steps into the castle together.

As they walk through the giant oak front doors, into the cavernous Entrance Hall which was lit with flaming torches. The girls climbed up the magnificent marble staircase and walk into the Great Hall.

"Where are the guys?? I thought they were directly behind us?" Lily asked when she realized the trio was missing as they settled themselves at one end of the Gryffindor table.

Arabella saw Malfoy and gang walking into the Great Hall and whispered to Lily and Stefanie. The three girls exchanged a dark look with the four Slytherins guys.

"We shouldn't have release them. Just leave them in the train and no one will noticed that they are missing." Arabella said as she glared the boys.  
  


"We _needed_ to. If not there will be evidence that we body-bound them on the train. Now, they had no proof now that we did that. And by the way, Malfoy is the son of the famous millionaire wizard, Baxton Malfoy. Do you think anyone will realize if he went missing for a day??" Lily said while keeping a lookout for James, Sirus and Remus.

The trio walked in and Lily waved to get their attention. James and Remus sat down next to Lily while Sirus sat in between Arabella and Stefanie. The three guys were grinning from ear to ear as they settled down.

"So you guys had been pranking around again??" Lily said while she tried to check out the first-years that were about to enter for sorting.

Just then there were screams coming from the Entrance Hall. Everyone in the Great Hall turned and checked out what was going on. A group of young looking first-years walked into the hall, looking drenched.

"Why are they all wet??" Stefanie questioned knowingly, looking at Sirus for the answer.

The guys burst into hysterical laughter had answered all their queries.

"Potter, Black and Lupin. Detention for you tomorrow." Came a fierce sounding voice of Professor McGonagall.

"My first detention of the year. This is worth it." Sirus grinned.

"I'm all ready for my one hundred and sixth detention." James said proudly.

"Can't you guys come up with something better than pranking the poor first years??" Lily said as she looked at the dripping wet first-years sympathetically. Some of the first-years looked like they were about to cry.

When everyone had entered, the student body watched the sorting hat sing and the first-years being sorted to their respective houses. Then there was the usual headmaster speech, which was thankfully short because everyone was starving. Followed up was the feast. Everyone helped themselves with multiple servings of pastas.

Lily, for once, had three servings for dinner because the food taste so wonderful and reminded her of her mother's cooking. Afterall, they were growing children reaching puberty at twelve. After the opening feast, the headmaster made the usual announcements such as head boy and head girl and about the Forbidden Forest being forbidden and the Whomping Willow and some Halloween ball that had nothing to do with them.

Finally the Gryffindors followed their prefects to the tower, with the password being 'All-Flavored Beans'. The second-years and above went straight to their dormitories while the first-years were left with the house prefects for some announcements.

Lily, Arabella and Stefanie had just finished washing up and all ready for bed. Samantha Phillips and Joey Johnson, their two other roommates since first-year followed up to use their bathroom. Samantha and Joey were not particularly close to Lily and her friends, but nevertheless, they made great dorm mates. They were too goodie-two-shoes in Lily, Arabella and Stefanie's opinion. Sometimes, when there was an all girls chat session, the quintet would share their crushes and gossips with one another.

"I can't believe one year had just past!!" Arabella exclaimed as she jumped onto Lily's bed.

"It was too fast. Well, perhaps because it was wonderful." Lily sighed in happiness.

"For once, I had a great time with the guys during the summer holidays." Stefanie said and hopped onto Lily's bed.

"I can't wait for the holidays already." Lily added and she started shooing Arabella and Stefanie to their own beds.

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"What shall be the prank at breakfast tomorrow??" Sirus asked with the sudden recognition that they had not planned ahead.

"Not the girls for sure." Remus shuttered at the thought of what the girls did for revenge. The girls had research for a week on their revenge after their first day. They had made their clothes invisible permanently except their boxers. They the girls had fed them with a type of visibility potion, just before they charmed their robes invisible. They were able to see their robes that were invisible to everyone else. They had also charmed their plain colored boxers to white with red hearts, green with purple polka dots and red with black words of 'I love mummy' behind. The embarrassment the three received that Monday morning was enough to last them for the entire seven years in Hogwarts. And the story of them in cute boxers was the talk of the school for a couple of days before it dies off when Snape appeared in a hot pink flimsy dress on the following Saturday morning.

"How about we transfigure some toothpicks to hopping rabbits in the Great Hall tomorrow??" James suggested, yawning. He had not even sleep enough for the day when Fion so crudely waked him up in the morning.

"Good idea. Let's sleep then. We've got a hall of rabbits to deal with tomorrow morning." Sirus grinned and they all went to bed. The guys dozed off within minutes.


	15. Amusing Schooldays

**Chapter 14: Amusing Schooldays**

"They're sooo cuteee!!"

"Get away from me!!"

"Oh my god. I love rabbits!!"

"What's happening??"  
  


"Get that _purple_ rabbit away from me!!"

"What the hell??"

"Aaahhhh.."

"Am I seeing things or did I really see colored rabbits of various sizes hopping around??" Lily rubbed her eyes and looked at the sight of the Great Hall again.

"Lils, I assure you that you're not seeing things because I happened to notice a _green polka dotted _rabbit sitting at our usual seat." Arabella walked up and carried the rather huge and heavy rabbit off the bench. The rabbit hopped away over to the Ravenclaw table.

"It must be the guys. Who else can be that good at transfiguration?? These rabbits look realistic actually." Lily commented as she carried a small pink rabbit, off the table so she can start eating her breakfast.

"Look, they can _hop_." Arabella added jokingly.

"Rather high too." Stefanie pointed at the red rabbit, which had just reached the Hufflepuff's tabletop with one leap from the ground.

"They can _eat _as well." Lily marveled at the transfigured black rabbit with white polka dots, which was nibbling a pancake at the Ravenclaw's table.

Albus Dumbledore was looking at the chaotic scene in front of him. Colored rabbits of various sizes were hopping around the Great Hall, some nibbling at the food on the tables while others were playing around with the students. _I must admit this is a good way to start the school year. Blue colored rabbit, rainbow colored, and polka dotted designs. It's the first time I had never seen a scene like this in all my years as a Headmaster here._ A Dalmatian-look-alike rabbit had just hopped onto the staff's table in front of Professor Porky and he pushed it off hastily. Dumbledore chuckled at the comical scene in the Great Hall. 

"What do you think of our work??" James whispered to the girls as he settled beside Lily.

"We woke up at five to prepare all these _rabbits_, you know??" Sirus said and he faked a yawn.

"Looks like our transfiguration isn't too bad. We _created_ the designs on the rabbits as well." Remus laughed as he helped himself with the toast while preventing one grass green rabbit from eating it off his plate.

"I transfigured one hundred and sixty six toothpicks, you know. Look at the polka dotted and striped rabbits. They are all mine." Sirus boosted as he helped himself on his second helping. A gray rabbit had hopped onto his lap. He shoved it off from his lap so that he can start eating.

"The plain colored are mine. I don't really want them to look too _abnormal_, you see." Remus commented as he patted the green rabbit next to him, feeding it with some toast.

"I don't think I ever recalled seeing a _bright pink_ rabbit or a _neon green_ rabbit in my entire life." Stefanie said, as she started laughing at the cute scene.

"I think this yellow rabbit is pretty cute. But what's with the unicorn picture on the side." Lily bent down and picked up a rabbit behind her and placed it on her lap.

"That's my masterpiece." James added, stopping his eating to explain. "I like plain and _normal_ looking colors but Remus wanted plain colored ones too. So I figured that tattoos might look interesting on them. Anyway I transfigured one hundred and fifty one of these art pieces here. There're no two rabbits that are identical, mind you." James took a look at his right. In front of some Gryffindor first-years was a green rabbit with a rainbow 'tattoo' on it. Then at his left, where the sixth-year Gryffindor girls were sitting, was a light blue rabbit with a sun 'tattoo'.

"That's really creative, you guys. I didn't expect you all to come up with something as brilliant as this." Lily said sincerely, in an amusing but yet impressive tone.

"Well, this definitely adds a lot to your record-breaking detentions. I'm sure of that. In fact, McGonagall is heading our way now." Arabella laughed while she tried to cuddle a lavender rabbit with violet polka dots on her lap and eat her scramble eggs at the same time.

"Here's your timetable, Miss Evans, Miss Figg and Miss Black." Professor McGonagall handed out the timetables. "Potter, Black and Lupin, come with me to my office now!!" She barked. Her tone changed from the girls to the guys. But they all noticed that she was trying hard to stifle a giggle. The scene at the Great Hall that morning was too funny not to be laughing. Even Malfoy and his gang seemed to be having fun with a black rabbit with white stripes.

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"Headmaster, these _harmful_ rabbits _attacked_ my students." Professor Porky, the head of Slytherin house, was pointing at Lucius' and Severus' nibbled fingers. The fingers did not appear to be injured at all, except some bite marks and a little scratches.

"Professor Porky, everyone _knows_ rabbits are harmless." Professor McGonagall rolled her eyes, but turned and glared at James, Sirus and Remus, whose faces were now plastered with a look of totally faked out innocence.

"Professor McGonagall, I must emphasize that you should teach your students to _behave_ themselves." Professor Porky insisted. Professor Porky, whose name contradicts with his physique, was tall and skinny. He was practically bony. His longish raven black hair had an unkempt and out-of-bed look. His face looked sunken and lacks the healthy radiant. Professor Porky was well known for his biasness on his own house and against everything with the Gryffindor house especially. There seems to be a grudge between Professor McGonagall and Professor Porky, but no one knows what is it. And that was only hearsay.

"Headmaster, I make sure they get their deserved detentions." Professor McGonagall said calmly. Although she was strict with her own house, she sided with them in times of need, especially when it was against the Slytherins.

"I think they ought to be suspended, headmaster." Professor Porky exclaimed. His hands were swinging rather wildly, trying to emphasize his point.

"Well, I'm sure Minerva knows how to deal with her students. Johnny, why don't you bring your students to Poppy so she can take a look at their _serious_ injuries." Dumbledore said to both the professors before they head out of his office. His eyes twinkled in amusement._ This was the second comical scene of the day. What's more coming up?_

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"This is really a bit too far!! How could I, the son of the head auror cum muggle businessman, Jason Black, be doing something like this?" Sirus complained as he started scrubbing the floor of the hospital wing toilet. The trio was serving their detention on the rabbit prank they played a week earlier.

"Remember our first detention?? It was in the hospital wing as well. And it was a year ago, on our second day of school!!" Remus commented in an amusing tone. He had gotten rather used to these sorts of detentions. Being brought up in a home where he never needed to do any form of housework, he had actually learnt all these from detentions. _Now I truly understand what the house-elves have been doing all these while at home._

"Anyway I don't mind if we had to scrub the bedpans again. We could have some fun out of that." James laughed at the thought while continue scrubbing the vandalized walls. Some people seemed to like to do some writings and drawings while doing their business in the toilet.

"Pommpy freaked out when her patients had _problems_ with the glue-infested bedpans." Sirus said, stopping his floor scrubbing, and started imitating Madam Pomfrey in her freaked-out look, "Oh merlin!! What happened?? Oh dear!! Oh dear!!"

"Don't we always make our detentions so interesting that we always look forward to have more of them??" Remus said as he scrubbed the stained toilet bowl rim.

"Since we had already did that on the bedpans, I don't think the same trick can be used on the toilet bowls. I'm sure Pommpy is smart enough not to fall for the same trick the second time." James said thoughtfully as he scrubbed the walls in another cubicle.

"I'm sure we can come up with some plank to be done here. This time Pommpy had obviously gotten smarter but taking away our wands for detention." Remus said, trying to scrub of some yellowish stain on another toilet rim.

"What do you suggest, Sirus?? You always have the brightest idea." James grinned cheekily.

"I'm out of ideas, the last eighty three pranks were _my_ ideas." Sirus groaned.

"Yeah right, we only did one hundred and twenty five pranks last year, and out of which, at least fifty were _my _ideas!!" James retorted and threw the scrubbing brush over at Sirus. _How can I get that pail of water over Sirus without me going over??_ James thought as he pointed at the pail with his finger. _Jeez, I thought the pail just vibrated._ James pointed at the pail again and muttered "Wingardium Leviosa".

The pail full of dirty water flew above Sirus' head and emptied its content all over Sirus.

"What the hell??" Sirus muttered as he went to the shower room to rinse himself off the dirty water.

"How did you do that??" Remus asked, amazed at the usage of magic without wand.

"Yeah, tell me what did you do??" Sirus demanded, dripping wet with dirty water and clean tap water.

"I don't know. I just pointed at the object and muttered a spell. Then the pail did what I was thinking." James said, still stunned at his own actions.

"That just reminded me." Sirus said with a mischievous glint. He stared and concentrated at a pail of dirty toilet water and instantly the pail flew above James and poured its content over James' head.

"What the-??" James muttered and ran towards the same shower room to rinse himself.

"Don't tell me you can do wandless magic too?" Remus asked curiously.

"Wandless magic??" James asked, deep in thought about some bedtime story he heard from his mother when he was younger. _Wandless magic. This sounded so familiar. But what was that story about??_

"Remember that children story on the supreme seven??" Sirus asked, looking at both of them. The chocolate brown eyes met with blue-green and met with the light brown with similar expression.

"I don't know. Afterall, that's a children's tale isn't it??" James said suggestively.

"Well, if according to the story, one of them can do wandless magic, another one had eye power." Remus said, thinking about the story he had heard from his mother many years ago.

"I remember when I was younger, I used to play with Stefanie about flying objects in our nursery. She could make objects fly by thinking about it."

"Do you think we could be-??" James asked, amazed at his newfound power.

"Well, at least you two are something. I don't think I'm anything." Remus said sadly.

"Don't worry, regardless what happen you'll always be our friend. We need to go and find Dumbledore now." James dashed out of the toilet to find Madam Pomfrey about their urgent rush to find the headmaster. Sirus and Remus followed him and left the half-cleaned toilet.

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"Ouch!!" Stefanie groaned as she tried to pick herself up. The Slytherins had just left the moment she tripped over an invisible string that they had ambushed outside the potions classroom. The invisible string now had disappeared without a trace after Lucius and his gang left laughing at the injured her. Stefanie had turned back because she had left her favorite notebook in the classroom. _I must have sprained my left ankle badly. This is just so great. Lils and Bell are nowhere to be found. I need a stick. Yes, my broomstick._

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Suddenly the view in front of Arabella blacked out. She saw Lucius and his gang ambushing Stefanie with an invisible thread outside the Potions classroom. She had tripped and twisted her ankle. Stefanie was now trying to pick herself up. Just as sudden, the view in front of her was back to normal.

"Are you alright??" Lily asked, concerned at her friend's unusual jerking motion.

"Stefanie sprained her ankle outside the Potions classroom. She's still there. We had to go and help her." Arabella said urgently and both of them rushed back to the dungeons. Lily barely had time to register the fact and reminded herself to ask Arabella about her powers of premonition.

"Stefanie!!" Lily shouted as Stefanie began to raise her wand.

"Lils!! Bell!! Malfoy and his gang must have ambushed me. Those idiots. My leg hurts!!" Stefanie was on the verge to tears. It looked like a very bad sprain.

Lily touched Stefanie's ankle and instantly the pain was gone.

"W-What did you do??" Stefanie asked in amazement.

"I'll explain to you once we get back to the dorm." Lily whispered and looked around for anyone who might have been around to witness what had just happened. Someone did in fact realized what Lily had done.

They ran as fast as possible back to their dorm. They were panting by the time they reached the portrait of the fat lady in pink dress.

"Rain drops." Arabella muttered. The portrait swung open and the three of them climb inside quickly. The common room was full of students. They turned and dashed up their dorm. Stefanie checked the whole room and the bathroom to see if Samantha and Joey were around.

"All clear." Arabella flashed thumb-up sign at Lily and Stefanie.

Lily began to tell her story about how she discovered that she could heal anything by touching when she was four. She mentioned about the multiple times she healed herself when her sister hurt her. She also mentioned the incident at the park when she was seven.

"You were the girl who healed me when I fell off my bike??" Stefanie asked in awed.

"You mean that girl was you??"

"Yes, I barely thank you that time. I was too stunned, you see. It was all Sirus' fault. He meddled with the brakes."

"I know, I saw two guys hiding behind the tree when you fell. It didn't strike me that was James and Sirus."

"You're a healer!!" Arabella shrieked.

"Yeah. I supposed."

"Do you know the story about the supreme seven??" Stefanie asked. Her blue-green eyes met the emerald green eyes and the purple eyes.

"You don't think Lily is one of them do you??" Arabella asked Stefanie quizzically.

"I don't know. But why not??" Stefanie said.

"Then who are the other six??" Lily asked, amazed. She had read the story from the books in the library. _But these were fictions, right??_

"I've the ability to use my mind to control things. I think I might be telekinetic." To prove her point, she closed her eyes and think about her pillow. The pillow whizzed across the room and landed on her lap.

"Wow. Both of you are amazing!!" Arabella breathed.

"Do you have any unusual powers??" Stefanie asked. Arabella gave some thoughts for a while.

"I don't think so." Arabella said sadly.

"How did you explain the fact that you saw Stefanie being ambushed at the dungeons just now??" Lily asked.

"I-I don't know. It was normal to me. I had these sorts of premonitions now and then. Most of the time was in dreams though." Arabella was trying to recall.

"One of the seven is a seer with the gift of premonition. Maybe you might be her. That's why we clicked so well." Stefanie suggested.

"Then who're the other four??" Arabella asked.

"I think Sirus had the ability of eye power. He displayed it before when we were younger." Stefanie thought about the times they made object fly in their playroom.

"Whatever it is. I think we should go and find Dumbledore and ask him." Lily said. They stood up and rushed off to Dumbledore's office.


	16. New Discoveries

**Chapter 15: New Discoveries**

Lily, Arabella and Stefanie rushed out of the Gryffindor tower. They stood in front of the portrait of the Pink Lady.

"Wait a minute. Anyone of you know where's _his_ office is?" Lily asked. Arabella and Stefanie shook their heads.

"We've to find the guys. They had been there at least a hundred times already." Stefanie suggested. They hurried towards the hospital wing where the guys were serving their detention.

BBAAAAMMMMM!!!

"Ouch!!"

"Watch you steps!!"

"What was that??"

"What the hell!!"

"My head hurts!!"

"James??" Lily looked up, rubbing her slightly reddish forehead.

"Lily??" James looked up, rubbing his chin.

"Wah, where are you girls hurrying to at _this_ time of the night??" James asked teasingly.

"Where are you guys rushing to in such great hurry??" Lily replied with a question.

"We erm.. need to find Dumbledore regarding something." Remus said.

"Well, we came to find you because we need to go and find Dumbledore and ask him something." Stefanie said.

"What makes you think we _know_ where's his office??" Sirus asked.

"Well, you guys had been in there about a hundred times at least, not to mention that the last time was this morning." Arabella said.

"It's getting late. We better hurry." James got up and helped Lily and the rest up.

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"..James did a spell without wand.."

"..Lily healed my sprained ankle.."

"..Sirus made the pail fly by staring at it.."  
  


"..Arabella had a premonition about me Stefanie.."

"..Stefanie made the pillow fly with her eyes closed.."

"Calm down calm down, my dears. Let me hear the story from each of you. James, you start first." Dumbledore smiled as James started telling his version of the story of the whole pail incident.

"How about you Lily??" Lily told Dumbledore everything, including the part where she healed Stefanie at the park when she was seven.

Sirus said about the part where he made his toys fly by staring at them and Stefanie added on the part she could make things fly using mind power. And the twins started arguing which was better, the usage of eye power or mind power.

"Both are just as important, cool off my dears." Dumbledore smiled at the identical twins. _Twins. Remind me of Nicholas and myself back then. We aren't related, but we're close at brothers._ Sirus was one minute older than Stefanie. Both of them had dark brown hair and blue-green eyes. Sirus was taller; standing 1.55m while Stefanie was only 1.5m. Both of them had sun-streaked skin tone and blessed with a baby face. They were identical replicas except the fact they are of different genders.

"Arabella, what about you??" Arabella started saying that she started having premonitions in dreams and in sudden jerks as far as she can remember. She mentioned that she had dream of the supreme seven several times and that's why she knew about the story. She had never heard or seen books regarding that. It was all part of the dreams she had.

"What about you Remus??" Dumbledore looked at Remus.

"I don't think I've any powers, Sir." Remus looked down. He could feel every pair of eyes staring at him. _Why would a werewolf have any powers??_

"If the story was true, twelve years ago, since the day when you all were born, it would had been fate that you all meet someday and get together finally. It appeared that your life did cross one another at some point of time back then." Dumbledore told them patiently. "So Remus, how did you became a werewolf??"

Remus was rather shocked at the question, but none of his friends appeared to be in surprised at that. He started telling them what had happened when he was seven at the park. How he got bitten when he tried to save a girl from a full-grown werewolf.

"That was you!! Oh Remus!! Thank you!!" Stefanie rushed and gave Remus a grateful hug. Tears were flowing down her face.

"Er.. Hush! Hush!" Remus hugged her back and patted her back. He did not know what he should do at such emotional expression.

"The power of seven involved the one who can perform wandless magic, which is James; Sirus' eye power; Lily the healer; Arabella the seer; Stefanie with her mind power; the time traveler and the animal communicator." Dumbledore said with a twinkle in his eyes under the half moon spectacles. "Remus could be the time traveler or the animal communicator. But I believe that Remus cannot be the descendent of Salazar Slytherin, who was a parseltongue, so that left with the time traveler."

"I'm the time traveler?? That's not possible. They had all display their unusual magical talent at a tender age. While I did not even felt a bit more magical than today." Remus said truthfully.

"How about all of you hold hands and form a circle?? Remus, concentrate on a time frame that you want to head towards." Remus nodded and all of them held hand.

After five minutes, nothing happened. The sextet opened their eyes.

"It's not me." Remus said sadly.

"Maybe you need a time-turner. Here is mine. Put it on. Try again. Don't give up." Dumbledore suggested, as he put the chain holding the time turner over Remus' neck.

This time Remus concentrated even harder. He was thinking of heading forward twenty years down the road but remain in Hogwarts grounds.

When all of them open their eyes, they did not notice any difference except the absence of Dumbledore. However, Lily and James spotted some differences in Dumbledore's office.

"Look, there's a phoenix!!" Lily shrieked. She had seen pictures of red phoenix in books from Hogwarts. But this was the first time that she had actually seen one. The phoenix looked at them and made a sound.

"What's that??" James pointed at a metal bowl with some silver liquid inside. He peeked in but decided to leave it. Afterall, it could be anything.

"Does that mean that we had travel forward time?? Let's go and explore the grounds a little. But be careful people might spot us. Let hold hands, so in any case of emergency, we can travel back." Remus said happily, glad that he had some sort of super magic in him.

The sextet held hands and walked out of Dumbledore's office. They saw a boy with messy black hair and spectacles with a lightning scar on his forehead. Beside him was a boy who had red hair and a lot of freckles.

"Hi, you all look like first or second years. Are you lost??" The boy with lightning scar and emerald green eyes said kindly. "Don't be afraid of us."

The six of them muttered a soft hello and stepped backwards, still holding onto each other hands.

"My name is Harry Potter and he is Ronald Weasley." The boy said gently.

"Harry Potter??" All of them looked stunned and stared at each other in awed. The guy named Harry gave them a knowing look but nevertheless smiled at them.

"Ok, we're leaving now. Bye." With a wave, Harry and Ron left the corridor.

"Let's travel back." Remus said and started concentrating onto Dumbledore's office.

By the time they opened their eyes, they realized that they are back.

"..there is a red phoenix.."  
  


"..a boy name Harry Potter with James' hair and facial features but Lily's eye colour.."

"..little changes in the office.."

"Calm down. I believed you all traveled twenty years down the road right??"

"Yes, sir. I supposed." Remus answered unknowingly.

"So that Harry Potter can't be the current Minster of Magic now. It's not possible that he is James' father. I think he could be _your_ son, James." James looked shocked.

"He had Lily's eye color." Sirus added on. Both James and Lily started blushing furiously. The rest of them broke into small giggles.

"It's curfew time. Let me give you some important reminders. These supernatural powers are highly confidential. You must keep it among yourselves, just the six of you. You all are here for a reason. Let's wait for the seventh person to turn up. Besides, I'm sure the evil side had already sent people to come and break you apart and destroy each of you. But regardless what happen, never disclose this secret to anyone even if they are the trustworthiest members in your family. You never know who are on the evil side. Never discuss or display your powers out of this room. The rest of the staff would not know about this. Meanwhile, protect yourselves well and just be careful. You may go off now." Dumbledore instructed.

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"I can't believe what happened." Lily, Arabella and Stefanie said at the same time the moment they laid on their respective beds.

"What happened??" Joey asked curiously. She was lying at the opposite bed from Lily.

"Nothing much except the fact that Lily declared her love for James today." Arabella said quickly.

"ARABELLA!!"

"I can't believe it!!" Joey and Samantha chorused.

"Neither can I." Lily sighed; they were talking about total different things. _I declare my love to James Arrogant Potter. No way. I don't like him, do I? Nah, that's not possible. But the Harry Potter boy did have my eyes. Oh my god. It can't be James and my son right?? Eeewww!! What a thought!! I don't like James Potter._ Lily could feel her cheeks reddening at the thought. _Luckily Bell and Stef can't see my face._

_I can hear your thoughts you know._

_What?? Who are you??_

_Your beloved Bell, at the bed next to you, of course._

_You're kidding._

_Don't believe?? Just turn around._

Arabella winked at Lily through the curtains.

_Oh my god!!_

_Don't worry, your secret is safe with me._

_It's not a secret!!_

_It isn't??_

_Don't tell anyone!!_

_So is it a secret or not??_

_Yes!! Yes!! Yes!!_

_See, I'm right._

_Don't ever enter my thoughts again!! Arabella Varol Figg._

_Well, then I enter your thoughts._

_What?? Stef!!_

_Yes, that's right._

Lily looked over at Stefanie and found her giving her the I-know-what-you-are-thinking-about wink.

_Oh my god!!_

_Relax, I won't tell the guys anything!!_

_So you two had been in my thoughts since the beginning??_

_Yes, since we step out of Dumbledore's office._

_  
Oh great!! So great!!_

Lily heard both Arabella and Stefanie giggled in the next beds.

_I want to sleep. I want to sleep. Sleep!! Sleep!! Sleep!! One sheep fly over my bed!! Two sheep fly over my bed!!_

More giggling heard.

_What with the sheep and the flying over your bed??_

_Get out of my thoughts!! Don't invade my privacy!!_

_Don't worry, Lils, we won't laugh at your thoughts although it's a little amusing._

More giggling heard. Louder this time.

_I'm not going to think about anything._

_She's asleep._

_Wait for her to dream._

_Hey, look, isn't that James??_

_Ooooo.. that's so sweet!!_

33333333333333333333

James was sleep talking. He was muttering something that sounded like 'zilly'.

_James was sitting along the beach at one of the Potter's summerhouses. He was wearing his favorite beige colored Quiksilver surf shorts and his Oakley sunglasses._

_Just then a girl with flaming red hair ran passed wearing two-piece._

_Hmm.. look like Lily. James smiled at the thought and adjusted his sunglasses for a clearer view._

_The girl turned around as if she heard him._

_"Lily!! What are you doing here??"_

_"What?? You invited us to your summerhouse during the break. Are you dreaming??"_

_Yes, I'm. James thought dreamily. His jaw dropped upon seeing Lily in a drop-dead yellow two-piece._

_"Earth to James." Lily waved at his face._

_"Huh??" James was in a dazed, he could feel that he was drooling and quickly wiped his mouth._

_"We're all over there in the water. Stop daydreaming and come and join us." Lily smiled and grabbed his hand._

_Wow. An electric feeling went up to his body the moment Lily touched him. This is really strange._

_"Hey James, what taking you so long that you need a gorgeous girl to drag you into the waters??" Sirus yelled over at him teasingly._

_"I-I was changing." James was thinking up of some excuse. He thought he vaguely heard some "Yeah, right" from Remus and Stefanie though._

_They played in the waters for some time and headed back to suntan on the sand._

_Stefanie used her mind to move the mat where the girls were about to lay on._

_"Can you help me apply the suntan lotion, James?" Lily asked seductively._

_"Huh?? O-Ok." James was totally surprised at what Lily just said. Afterall this is a dream, I can do anything I want._

_He took the suntan lotion and squeezed some on his hands and start applying on Lily's back._

_Hmm, why is it so rough??_

James opened his eyes.

"Aarrggghhh!!" James jumped in shock.

"What were you dreaming??" Remus asked with a sparkling glint in his eyes.

"N-Nothing." James said, feeling rather mortified.

"Then why did you start rubbing _my_ leg??" Sirus asked, trying to hold back his outbreak for later.

"Why did you put your leg on _my_ bed in the first place??" James retorted.

"Your hands looked like you want to rub _something_. Si thought it was funny if you start rubbing _his_ leg." Remus said and burst into hysterical laughter.

"You rubbed my leg _sooo_ gently like, you know." Sirus said and started laughing hilariously.

The other boy who stayed in the same dormitory with them heard the commotion and had a small laugh before he slipped out of the second-year boy dorm. The three of them never knew his name or who he was because he had kept to himself all year round. They can barely recognize him even if he walked right in front of them.

"It's not funny, you know." James said, his face reddening in both anger and embarrassment. But the James Potter is usually not embarrassed by such minor pranks. He already had his ultimate embarrassment last year within the first month in Hogwarts.

33333333333333333333

Lily woke up from her wonderful dreams. She had dreamt a date with James Potter at some muggle restaurant having a romantic candlelight dinner. James had bought her a bouquet of lilies and picked her up from her house in his huge limousine. They ate their dinner at some fanciful restaurant where he had booked the whole place just for the two of them. Then after dinner, there were musicians playing some classical music with violin and he invited her for a dance. _Well, luckily it's all a dream._

Lily dragged herself out of bed. She turned and saw Arabella and Stefanie still sleeping soundly. _I'm so glad it's a Saturday. _By the time Lily washed up, Arabella and Stefanie were already up.

"How was your _dream_??" Arabella asked sleepily but in a rather amusing tone.

"What dream?" Lily asked innocently.

"We were just wondering how did the candlelight dinner go, you see. We only managed to stay up to watch the part that James invited you for a dance. So, did you two kiss in _your_ dream??" Stefanie asked teasingly.

Lily looked at them in horror. Arabella and Stefanie gave them an I-know-who-you-dreamt-of look.

"Oh no!! You two didn't??"

"Yes, we did." Arabella smiled at Lily.

"Oh my god!!" Lily groaned and she climbed into her bed and hide under her covers again. K_nowing them, they're not going to let me off with that._


	17. The Marauders

**Chapter 16: The Marauders**

"Tell me you guys hasn't been _marauding_ around!!" Fion smiled as she walked into James' room where the three guys were hanging out.

"What's marauding??" Sirus asked fascinated by the big words Fion always use.

"It actually means raiding and plundering. But well, it's just an exaggeration on what you guys had done earlier in the kitchens." Fion smiled at them and sat down on James' favorite green couch next to her.

"Well, since we had always been _marauding_ around. Why don't we call ourselves the Marauders??" James said as he packed his invisibility cloak carefully into his backpack. His parents had given it to him for his thirteenth birthday, which falls on 8th January, in just a few days time. He had always been asking for one since he was ten. The invisibility cloak is considered to be an extremely rare and expensive treasure in the wizarding world.

"The Marauders sounds cool. Very exclusive indeed." Fion complimented James on his brilliant idea.

"So we shall declare ourselves as Marauders when we head back tomorrow." Sirus said, and jumped onto James' bed in joy. It was the last day of the Christmas break and the three guys had spent the last few days of the break at James' house.

"We need to think about how we can inform everyone about our famous prankster name." Remus said, building an idea in his head.

"That's not a problem at all. I'm sure we can come up with something by tonight." James said as he zipped up his bag. The three guys sat down on the couches and chitchat with Fion until late at night.

33333333333333333333

"Well, at least this Christmas, we don't need to spend it with the guys." Lily said as she jumped onto Stefanie's king-sized four-poster bed. It was the last night of the Christmas break and they were heading back to Hogwarts the next morning.

"Don't you want to see Mr. James _Wonderful_ Potter?" Arabella said in a teasing tone as she dot some of Stefanie's Clinique moisturizer on her face.

"What about the candlelight dinner??" Stefanie said as she tried to squeeze more clothes into her already filled bag.

"What do you think will be the next prank that the guys are going to pull??" Lily asked, ignoring the questions from Arabella and Stefanie.

"Don't change the topic, Lils." Stefanie said while she unpack and pack her black Elle bag again.

"That dreams was months ago!!" Lily groaned while she hid herself under the comforter. Both Arabella and Stefanie started giggling and continued on what they were doing.

33333333333333333333

"How's your Christmas??" Remus asked the girls as they climbed up Hogwarts Express. They had flooed to King Cross separately and met along the platform nine and three quarters.

"It was wonderful. We had so much fun together." Stefanie replied, tugging her heavy bag behind. Stefanie had a large walk-in wardrobe at home and whenever she headed home during Christmas, she would return with even more clothing and accessories.

"Something great happened during the break." James ran in front of the five of them, turned around and announced proudly.

"What happened??" Lily asked curiously, thinking that it might be another foolproof prank against the Slytherins.

"The Marauders were founded." James said as they entered their usual compartment at the end of the train. The put their stuffs at a corner and settled at the seats.

"Who're the Marauders?? Lily asked quizzically.

"What Marauders??" Stefanie questioned.

"Marauders??" Arabella asked. All the three girls asked at the same time while looking at the three guys in amusement.

James started explaining the events leading to the naming of the Marauders.

"I can't believe you guys declare yourself as 'The Marauders'." Lily said as she burst into giggles.

"You guys. Marauders?? Spare us please." Stefanie said and she started laughing at the guys.

"Do you guys know what does marauders mean or not??" Arabella asked, laughing rather hysterically.

"Of course, we know. The Marauders sound cool right??" Sirus said.

"Well, we're going to announce to everyone on the train that we are the Marauders soon." James said as he started searching for something in his bag.

Sirus and Remus went to get a pack of things from their bag and some parchment.

"What're you guys planning to do??" Lily asked, eyeing the bags and parchments that the guys were holding curiously.

"Well, you'll see it soon." James said and winked at Lily before he led the guys out of the compartment and closed the door after them.

"Ooo Stef, did you see what I thought I just saw??" Arabella said, grinning.

"Of course I did, how could I miss that??" Stefanie said as she winked at Arabella right in front of Lily.

Lily ignored both the girls and went to get a book from her bag and start reading. Stefanie and Arabella were mimicking Lily and James in front of Lily. _What was he thinking when he winked at me?? In front of Bell and Stef, most of all._ Lily started digging for a book she had brought along with her. _Hmm.. Where is it?? Ahh.. _She fished out one of those children books on fairytales that she happened to come across during the break. It was her favorite book when she was younger and she just felt like reading it again. She started to read the story about Cinderella and soon tuned out to what Arabella and Stefanie voice.

BbbAAaaMMmmm!!

The three girls jumped in shocked.

"Can't you open the door a little more gently??" Lily said, smiling at James in particular. James' hair looked messier than ever and he had got that cute messy look that Lily thought was cute.

"You guys don't know that there're actually people inside here??" Arabella said, and she picked up the Christmas issue of Witch Weekly on the floor. Stefanie's mother was the chief editor for Witch Weekly and Stefanie had just gotten the latest issue from her mother.

"Can't you knock??" Stefanie said angrily. The guys had always hit her nerves whenever they do something immature. Banging open the door was considered immature to her. But whenever she banged open Sirus' room door, the reason was great urgency and not immaturity.  
  


James, Sirus and Remus walked into the room empty-handed and their faces flushed. They looked like they had done a bit of running. James closed and locked the door behind him and settled down on their seats.

"So what did you guys did??" Lily asked, knowing rather well that it had to be some prank. But what??

"We need to thank Dr. Filibuster for his fabulous No-Heat-Wet-Start Fireworks for this successful prank." James said dramatically, pretending to be making an announcement.

"It was nothing actually. Not even considered a prank." Remus said, smiling at Stefanie.

"We merely went to every compartment, set of the fireworks which had a slip of paper that says 'Courtesy of The Marauders' attached to it. That's all." James said as he took Lily's book to check it out but Lily grabbed it back before he had the chance to even take a glimpse of the title.

"So this is the great way of announcing your newfound title??" Arabella asked amazed at how childish these guys can get.

"This is such a brilliant idea, Bell. Even you got to be impressed but us at thinking of this fantastic method of announcement." Sirus told Arabella overconfidently.

"I wonder what's up next." Lily asked, sharing the same expression with the two girls.

"We'll get more remarkable each time. We are The Marauders, afterall." James said pompously.


	18. Marauders to the Rescue

**Chapter 17: Marauders to the Rescue**

"Watch where you're going, Mudblood." Lucius Malfoy hovered at a boy who was much shorter and smaller than him.

"Apologise." Vaness Crabbe sneered at the blonde haired boy while Gordon Goyle pinned the poor boy on the wall and tugged his hair.

"Sorry." The boy muttered inaudibly.

"Louder." Severus Snape yelled at the now messy haired boy.

"What do you think you are doing?" James yelled across the corridor, directly at Lucius.

"Look, it's Potty, Blackie and Loony again." Lucius told the other three guys and they broke into laughter.

"Let him go or we shall not let you off." Sirus came forward and glared at Lucius.

"Well, you don't think you're a hero, do you?" Severus returned the glare at Sirus.

"Let him off." Remus said in a calm and composed manner.

"Why should we??" Lucius replied, grabbing the boy's collar tighter as he spoke. The boy winced and looked like he was about to burst into tears.

"Four guys bullying a poor fellow. What do you think people will say about you, Malfoy?" James retorted, holding onto his wand in his pocket.

Malfoy and his gang took out their wands and pointed at The Marauders.

"Expelliarmus!!" Several female voices were heard. They turned and saw Lily, Arabella and Stefanie walking over with their wands in front.

"So big boys Marauders needed _little_ girls to protect them." Lucius said and the few of them started laughing as they retrieved their wands.

"So are you going to let him off??" James asked menacingly. The passer-by students saw the two groups of second-year students all rushed off as quickly as possible, sensing trouble in the air.

"What if we say no??" Severus replied and pulled the boy's hair until he winced in greater pain.

"Expelliarmus!!" Lily shouted but missed. Suddenly many other spells were said.

"Petrificus totalus!!"

"Furnunculus!!"

"Densaugeo!!"

"Tarantallegra!!"

"Locomotor mortis!!"

"Stupefy!!"

"Rictusempra!!"

All the spells were said at the same time by each of them. Sparks came out from each of their wands and hit someone opposite. The next thing everyone stopped and reacted towards the spells.

Lily and James gotten the leg locking curse and fall backwards knocking Remus down together. Sirus front teeth suddenly enlarged until it dragging his head down until he fell forward supporting his head from being weighed down using his hands. Arabella dropped in a full body-bind and knocked onto Stefanie and landed on top of her.

At the opposite side, Lucius was stunned and fell backwards stiffly. Severus started laughing hysterically due to the tickling charm. Gordon started dancing along the corridor madly while Vaness had a serious outburst of boils all over him.

"WHAT ON EARTH ARE YOU ALL DOING??" Came Professor McGonagall's voice from the end of the corridor, which was now cleared for the duel between the two groups.

All of Gryffindors were injured in a way or another responded while the Slytherins were in no condition to reply Professor McGonagall. She conjured up stretchers to take the eleven twelve-year-olds to the hospital wing.

33333333333333333333

"Where am I??" Lily muttered. She heard noises around her and sat upright.

"Cool off. This is a hospital wing!!" Madam Pomfrey was shouting around the hospital wing, trying to stop the fight.

"How dare you stun me, Potter?" Lucius shouted across the hospital wing at James, ignoring Madam Pomfrey pleas.

"Well, you offended me first." James said calmly as he tried to move his legs.

"So The Marauders are just cowards who don't dare to admit their mistakes??" Severus growled at Sirus as he massaged his aching muscles.

"You tried to _disfigure_ my face first!!" Sirus yelled at Severus loudly.

"What do you think you're doing to body bind me??" Arabella glared at Vaness menacingly.

"Who is suffering more now??" Vaness returned Arabella's glare.

"You all are a bunch of dolts!!" Remus shouted at the Slytherins as he rubbed his back.

"Petri-" James wanted to body-bind all the Slytherins and made them shut up once and for all when Professor Dumbledore, Professor McGonagall and Professor Porky entered the hospital wing.

Everyone kept quiet all the sudden.

"One week of detention all of you." Professor McGonagall told all of them.

"It wasn't my fault. Malfoy started first."

"I'm the victim here."  
  


"My dearest Professor McGonagall, you can't do that to us!!"

"Malfoy and gang were bullying the poor boy."

"We were trying to help that boy."

"Potter and his gang attacked us."

"I was attacked!!"

"Keep quiet." Professor Porky shouted. Suddenly silence filled the hospital wing once again.

"Mr. Pettigrew, would you mind explaining to us what happened??" Dumbledore asked the shivering boy who was at the last bed. He started explaining about how Malfoy was bullying him and calling him mudblood until James and his friends came to save him. He went on to explain the exchanged of spells and how he ended up with the leg-locking charm.

"Well, to be fair, all of you will have a week of detention which will be settled by the head of your house. No buts." Dumbledore said calmly.

The Gryffindors and the Slytherins were exchanging death glares as their head of houses telling them the week of detentions ahead. Usually the Marauders would be ecstatic to receive more detentions for their pranks, but today, neither was into the mood.

When the three professors left, they returned to their respective beds but nevertheless constantly exchanging death glares.

"I just want to say thank you to all of you for standing up for me." The boy walked up in between James' and Sirus' bed.

"Don't mention it! We just can't stand those dolts." James told the boy.

"Thank you very much." The boy said and headed back to his bed, limping slightly.

"Don't tell me The Marauders wants a mudblood as become part of them." Lucius asked Severus loudly.

"Mudbloods might affect the pure blood Potty, whose father is none other than the Minister of Magic himself." Snape replied Lucius equally.

James got out of the bed and went to have some discussion with Sirus and Remus and then returned to his bed.

"Hey there, what's your name by the way??" James shouted to the boy at the corner bed.

"Peter Laurence Pettigrew."

"So Peter, you wanna become a Marauder?" Remus asked him kindly.

"W-What??" Peter asked, too shocked for words.

"Yeah, so Peter, you want to join us??" James asked, looking at Peter, who was looking shocked, surprised, and happy at the question.

"B-But I'm not a pure blood wizard."

"We don't discriminate muggle-born like some gits." Sirus added.

"I-I don't know."

"Being a Marauder is an honor which some _people_ can never get in their whole life." James said pointedly.

"I-I guess that would be ok if you all don't mind." Peter replied smiling. _Step one succeeded, my Master, I had followed your instructions to join the Marauders to break up the six of them. _Peter turned and saw Arabella and Stefanie looking intensely at him. _Master is so brilliant to cast a spell to block my mind from mind readers. They can never guess._

Arabella looked at Peter. _I have an ominous feeling about this guy._ She went into and read Peter's thought. _Hm.. He doesn't seem to have any motive. Could he know that we can read minds?_

Stefanie took a sideward glance at Peter. _This guy doesn't seem to be what we think he is._ She turned and saw Arabella looking at him as well. _I better enter her thoughts and see what's going on._

_Bell??_

_Stef??_

_You don't trust him??  
  
_

_I had been reading his mind since they accepted him as a Marauder._

_Found anything??_

_Nothing so far. But I've this gut feeling that he is more than what he seems to be._

_I had the same feeling too._

_But so far nothing yet._

_What is he thinking of now??_

_Food??_

_We better check on him._

_Let ask Lily and see what she thinks??_

Stefanie turned and looked at Lily while Arabella is left to concentrate on Peter's thoughts.

_Lils._

_Stef?? What're you doing in my thoughts again??_

_I'm not checking on your thoughts about James this time._

_Spare me please._

_I'm asking you what do you think of Peter._

_Well, his eyes don't tell much. I can't tell._

_What does your female instinct tells you??  
  
_

_He doesn't seem to be trustworthy._

_That's what Bell and I thought too._

_But we can't judge a person by the outlook. He looked trouble and fearful from his eyes. _Lily turned to take a look at Peter who was now lying down facing the ceiling and she turned back to Stefanie.

_I know. But woman's instincts are seldom wrong._

_Well, we had to be sure first. Now we've no proof. He could be just a poor boy who had been through so much abuse._

_Ok Lils, you always think everyone is so nice like you._

_I do not!!_

_All right, just keep this among us. Bell and I will be checking on him until we are hundred percent sure._

_I understand. Just to make sure._

Stefanie left Lily's thought and returned to Peter.


	19. The Fourth Marauder

**Chapter 18: The Fourth Marauder**

"So, Peter, tell us more about yourself??" Lily asked the shy boy gently as the septet sat around the fireplace in the Gryffindor common room.

"You can't be shy to be a Maurauder." James exclaimed loudly and gave Peter a slap on his back. Several heads turned around to take a look at James in the common room. The senior students shot him an annoyed look while the younger ones shot him an admiring glance.

"I-My father is a muggle and my mum was a witch. She died in an accident when I was five. My father had been drinking his nights away ever since my mum died and beat me up now and then. I did not know that I'm a wizard or whatsoever until I received the letter from Hogwarts. I had to beg him for ages before he allowed me to come here." Peter said sadly. His gray eyes appeared a little watery.

"Well, this explains for your loneliness." Arabella said sympathetically. She looked at Peter and read his thoughts. _Nothing much again. He seems to be thinking of his past. Is he really as what Lils had said??_

"So now, you're part of us, the famous Marauders, and the hottest guys in school!!" Sirus jumped up and sat on the other side of Peter. _Hmm.. is he who he appear to be?? _From the background, Lily, Arabella and Stefanie were making puking noises away.

"Thank you. I mean it." Peter said, looking at them sincerely. _Well, looks like they're not as bad as Master had said._

"I think you should relax a little. We're not like Malfoy and the Slytherins, who despise muggle-borns. Lils and Bell are muggle-born too. Besides the sorting hat had put you in Gryffindor. You belong here." Remus said kindheartedly.

"C'mon guys. We need to come up with a prank before we head down for dinner." Stefanie said smiling, trying to lighten at mood. _He seems really innocent so far. Nothing else in his thoughts except his father. Maybe as what Lil's say, he probably suffered too much._

"Yes, we need a prank. One that is good enough to give a bang to the end of the school year." James said, eyes brightening at the thought of more detentions.

"Well, we can always have something that really _bangs_." Sirus said cheekily, mentally making a list of things that bangs.

"Don't forget we've got our house cup to maintain. Don't go too far with the _bangings_." Lily warned jokingly. Gryffindor had won the Quidditch cup and house cup once again, for the second time since they were here. People could not help but being amazed that the points had not been minus off yet since the school pranksters were all Gryffindors.

"No worries, Lils. How far can we go??" James said grinning which usually signified that some major prank was being brewed.

"What about conjuring up some guns that give loud bangs but fire some sort of liquid??" Peter suggested timidly. He kept quiet after speaking up and looked down on the floor. _They're really nice to me. How could I do something like that??_

"That's a brilliant idea!!" James said, smiling at Peter, charming him with the Potters' smile. Peter's face actually relaxed at that moment. _He appeared to be really tensed and uncomfortable. I wonder what's troubling him._

"Sounds like a super soaker!!" Lily said excitedly. Lily had owned super soakers, a type of rather large water gun that can shoot water at great distance with some pressure, when she was younger.

"What's a super soaker??" Sirus asked curiously. Being a pureblood wizard with only toys from the wizarding world. Sirus had never seen a muggle water gun before.

"It is a muggle toy that shaped like a huge gun but have a container to put water and can shoot out water." Arabella explained. She was rather perked up from the idea of a harmless prank.

"I wonder how they look like." Stefanie asked in amazement. She had never been to a muggle toyshop before. Living in a wizard neighborhood had its limitations afterall.

"Then we can make banging sounds coming out from these guns." Remus added. He had owned a few super soakers before. His parents had made sure that he knew things from both the wizarding world and the muggle world. He frequented muggle toyshops especially the one, which was situated rather near to his house, Toys 'R' Us, when he was younger.

"Ok, now we need to carry out the idea. Let's head up to our dorm to do it." James instructed and the six of them followed him up to the second year boys' dormitory.

"Erm.. this is your dorm??" Lily asked in disbelief when Sirus opened the door and invited the girls in.

"Of course. We're so proud of this masterpiece. We did all these last week." James said smiling. Lily thought that he had winked at her again.

The boys' dorm looked like a forest. The supposedly velvet red curtained four-poster beds were now camping tents with mattresses. The cupboards and tables now shaped like trees and shrubs. The original carpet had become normal carpet grass. There was even a waterfall at the part where the last empty bed was supposed to be.

"What's with the forest theme??" Lily asked, totally impressed at the sight.

"We never had a chance to sneak into the Forbidden Forest, so we decided to have a Not-So-Forbidden forest up here." James answered, feeling proud of his advanced transfiguration skills.

"This is very advanced transfiguration. We haven't even learned them." Arabella asked, staring at the supposedly dormitory in amazement.

"We borrowed books about Transfiguration from the library." Sirus said and pointed at the pile of books on Transfiguration and Animagi piled hidden at the corner of the room.

"Did Orlando ever come in here??" Lily asked as Remus closed the door behind her. Orlando Wood was the captain and keeper of Gryffindor Quidditch team and the sixth-year prefect.

"This was only created a few days ago. No one knows about this beside the Marauders and now, you three." James replied touching the mini waterfall and splashing the water for the effect.

"Oh my gosh, it's real!! And how did you guys know there's a waterfall inside?" Lily asked and walked over to the mini waterfall to touch the cooling water.

"We've our sources." James said, winking at Lily again. Lily saw Arabella and Stefanie looking at her with the I-know-what-James-did-to-you-again look. _Oh no, this is going to be a long night again._

The septet settled nicely in a circle around the 'campfire' and started their discussion. The 'campfire' was made using the magical blue flames and all the seven wands were stacked in the middle to provide the effect.

James was going to transfigure the seven super soakers from parchments. Remus would help him in transfiguration as he had a clearer idea how the water guns looked like. Lily was going to charm the water into seven different colours. They continued to go about how they were going to walk into the Great Hall with the super soakers without letting anyone see before they finished eating.

"We can use the Invisibility Cloak." Sirus said excitedly. He started dashing towards James' trunk to fetch it.

"Wow!! You've an invisibility cloak??" Lily asked James. She had read about Invisibility Cloaks and how expensive and rare they are in books. Arabella and Stefanie looked equally amazed. _Well, James is very rich, afterall._

"He gotten it for his thirteenth birthday from his parents." Remus explained to the girls.

"It is not practical. How are we going to carry seven _massive_ super soakers into the Great Hall??" James said although he had no clue how the super soakers looked like or how big they actually were.

"They're not that big!! But seven of them could be rather heavy to be carried around." Lily reasoned.

"How about we all get a different colour liquid and see how many people can we aim??" Sirus jumped and left James' trunk and his invisibility cloak alone to head back to the circle.

"Great. My aiming is rather good. But that depends how good is the water gun." Arabella called out, energized over the idea.

"We can charm the colored water to stay on, perhaps we can add something like a counter onto these super soakers. They can count the number of people we hit." Stefanie added.

"So right now we need to get the right charms on the liquid first." Remus added suggestively.

"No, we don't. We already have a _charming_ dictionary already." James turned and grinned at Lily.

They continued their flawless prank until late into the night when all of them were just too tired to move. Before long, the seven fell asleep soundly on the carpet grass in the boys' dormitory.

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"Where's Potter, Evans, the Black twins, Lupin, Figg and Pettigrew??" Professor McGonagall asked the class. Seven Gryffindors were missing in the morning class of Transfiguration.

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"Someone draw the curtains!!" James said as he crawled into a 'tent'. The sun was up and the sunlight was spilling into the room.

"Ouch, my face!!" Arabella yelped in disgust as Sirus' leg just kicked her.

"Ssshhh!!"

"W-What.. where are we??" Lily opened her eyes and asked, trying to digest the forest surroundings. She soon realized that it was only the boys' dormitory and fall back to sleep on the soft grass.

Knock!! Knock!!

BbbbAAAAaaaMMMMmmm!!

"What's that sound??" Stefanie asked sleepily as she turned away from the door.

"Just the door." Remus replied and crawled sleepily into his 'tent'.

"WHAT ON EARTH IS HAPPENING HERE??" Professor McGonagall's voice boomed across the second year boys' dormitory.

"Oh no!!"

"Uh oh!!"

"Shucks!!"

"What on earth had the dorm become?? A forest?? And why are there _girls_ in the _boys'_ dormitory??" Professor McGonagall barked the seven of them who had gotten up somehow and stood in a line in front of her. The seven sleepy-faced second-years looked at her groggily, but nevertheless remain quiet and let her continued lecturing.

"Ten points off for changing your dorm into a.. forest. And five points off for each of you, Evans, Figg, Black. There'll be detentions for all of you for skipping your morning lessons. And-" Even she could not help but looked at the transformed dorm in amazement.

"What time is it now??" Sirus asked, preventing Professor McGonagall from deducting more points off from Gryffindor. They all know she was impartial at rule-breaking students.

"For your information, it is already one in the afternoon and you all had missed your morning classes." Professor McGonagall said sternly at all of them, eyeing each of them.

"Well, my most _favorite_ Professor, you had to see what we had transfigured here." James said and he turned around to show Professor McGonagall their dormitory.

"I've _noticed_, Mr. Potter."

"We had made full use of what we had learnt from your lessons. All we did were _practicing_ your lessons outside class." James said, trying to flatter Professor McGonagall immensely.

"I don't remember ever teaching you all on transfiguring _beds_ into _tents_ yet."

"No, you didn't, Madam. Due to our passion for Transfiguration, we borrowed books from the library for extra reading." Remus added, making a forested dormitory sounding extremely innocent.

"Oh, well.." Professor McGonagall thought about that for a while. She was not sure to be amazed at their transfiguration skills or be angry with them for skipping her class. _I must admit they had done a good job on that._

"Besides there's no rule stated that we can't transfigure anything in our own dormitory. Am I right, Professor McGonagall??" Lily said truthfully. She had read the Hogwarts school rules and practically remembered them.

"We had been your most _wonderful_ students in class. Last night we were _busy_ practicing our transfiguring skills on changing our dorm into the forest. We asked the girls to practice here with us, since they're not too good at Transfiguration. We were trying to tutor them." James said giving Professor McGonagall the most innocent and genuine look his sleepy face could muster.

"Well then, no points will be deducted for this dorm _transformation_ and no detentions for skipping my class then. But five points will be deducted from Evans, Figg and Black for being in the boys' dormitory when they're not supposed to be." Professor McGonagall said and turned to walk out of the room. "One last thing. Please transfigure everything back to normal by _today_." With that, she walked out of the room.

"I can't believe you guys!! We just escaped punishments that we deserved." Lily exclaimed after making sure Professor McGonagall had left the Gryffindor tower.

"Well, this is nothing. Flattery always go somewhere with girls." Sirus said, smirking and grinning wildly.

"Well, we're punished. Fifteen points off Gryffindor for us being here." Arabella added.

"What we said wasn't lies, they were just twisted facts." James said, smiling at the girls.

"Let's get out of here before McGonagall decide to turn back again." Stefanie said as she grabbed her wand as well as Lily and Arabella's wands.

"Don't worry. She won't come back until tomorrow at least." James said, crawling into his 'tent' to continue his sleep.

"How would you know?? Aren't you all supposed to transfigure everything back to _normal_??" Lily said, feeling a little sad. She had grown to love this dormitory in just one night here.

"McGonagall never check on us twice a day. Not that I remember, at least. Transfiguring a room back to normal is easy. We can do it tonight. Meanwhile I think we'll be skipping the lesson for the rest of the day, which is Potions. And I don't wanna go for that." James said peeking out from the slit off the tent.

"Well, as much as we hate Porky, but we'll be going for Potions." Arabella said and she gave a final look of the room again.

"I must say you guys had done a wonderful job at transfiguring your dorm." Lily said and she looked at the four guys who were already inside their own 'tent'. Giving one final look at the room, she walked out.

"C'mon gals, Let's get going. They're already _asleep_." Stefanie said and suddenly there were four different types of snores coming out from the tents.


	20. End Of Year Feast

**Chapter 19: End-of-Year Feast**

"Faster, the feast is starting in like thirty minutes time." Sirus hurried Lily who was busy muttering a charm that could make the transfigured super soakers invisible to everyone eyes but visible to those who had drank the visibility potion.

"Sirus, can you stop hurrying Lily?? The charm isn't _easy_, you know." Arabella said as she rolled her eyes at the immature guy who was jumping on his bed.

"Where's the visibility potion??" Stefanie asked Remus who was preparing the colored water.

"It's here with me." Arabella said as she held up the vial of visibility potion, which was left from last year where they had used to prank the guys.

"Ok, can anyone _see_ where the super soakers are??" Lily asked as she stood up from the ground where the super soakers were supposed to be lying on.

"Yes, they're on the ground at your feet." James said, grinning. He was pretending to polish his wand after a tough session of transfiguring parchments to super soakers. James, Sirus and Remus had transfigured at least fifty different types of super soaker look-alikes before reaching the one that Lily and Arabella had agreed on.

"Yeah right." Lily told James as she walked over to Arabella, being extra careful not to step on the invisible super soakers.

Arabella distributed the vial of potion into seven small goblets.

"Cheers!!" All the seven goblets were raised and knocked gently.

"It tastes strange." James said, giving a face of dislike for the potion.

"That's because last year we mixed the potion with orange juice." Lily said, grinning at the thought of their flawless prank.

"Are you sure the potion hasn't expired or something??" Remus asked eyeing the goblet suspiciously, having a strange sensation in his stomach.

"This potion can be effective for seven years!! That's why we prepared in bulk. So it can last all throughout the seven years here." Lily said, grinning. The guys gave Lily a pretended horrified look. That was the one and only prank the girls had ever done on the guys.

"How much do you have left?? We can use on the Slytherins next year." James said, grinning at the idea of a new prank on Slytherins. The seven of them, like the rest of the school beside themselves, had disliked the Slytherins, to put it mildly.

"Not a lot though. Anyway, I can _see_ the super soakers now." Lily said, pointing at the water guns that were laid on the place where it was before they were charmed invisible.

"Ok, add the liquid now." James instructed, as he grabbed the light green bottle and poured into his super soaker. Sirus took the sky blue bottle; Remus grabbed the fiery red one; Peter seized the white one; Lily grabbed the lemon yellow colored one; Arabella took the dark purple colored while Stefanie took the sunshine orange bottle. They poured the entire bottle of colored water into the container at the back of the super soaker.

"Now we need a charm to make sure the liquid never finishes." Lily said as she muttered a never-ending charm onto all the super soakers.

"Let's test them." Arabella said as she aimed at the floor in front. The rest of them followed.

BANG!! BaNg!! bAnG!! BanG!! bANg!! bang!!

Wwwwhhhhiiiisssshhhhh!!

The seven different colored liquids shot out from the different water gun and landed on the ground.

"What a pool of colors!!" Lily exclaimed in a pretended excited shriek.

"Ok, lookin' good!! Let's hit the battlefield now." James exclaimed, held up his water gun as if it's a sword.

"Remember, we'll only start after _we_ finish eating." Arabella reminded the guys as they walked out of the boys' dormitory.

"You said that like a thousand times at least." Sirus whined. The guys were rather tired of Arabella's constant reminder.

"Looks like everyone is already at the Great Hall." Lily said, as she was pretend to march, with her water gun.

"We're five minutes _late_." Remus said, twirling the water gun.

"Well, we shall be fashionably late then." Stefanie said, grinning, holding up her water gun.

"Let's end the feast with a big bang!!" James exclaimed as they climbed out of the portrait hole and trooped towards the Great Hall.

Dumbledore made his usual end of the year announcement. Gryffindor won the house cup once again and all the Gryffindors broke into loud cheers while Slytherins booed.

The seven of them sat at the corner of the table, isolated from the rest of the Gryffindors, so that they could have enough space to put their guns beside them. They ate as quickly as possible so that they can get started.

"Let's start now. We just turn and face the Great Hall and start shooting. Whoever aimed the most people's cloak wins the game." James whispered to them the moment the girls finished their dinner.

BANG!! BaNg!! bAnG!! BanG!! bANg!! bang!! BANG!! BaNg!! bAnG!! BanG!! bANg!! bang!!

"What's going on??"  
  


"Ouch!!"  
  


"What that gre-??"

"Argh!!"

"What the hel-"

BANG!! BaNg!! bAnG!! BanG!! bANg!! bang!! BANG!! BaNg!! bAnG!! BanG!! bANg!! bang!!

"What the hell is this blue liquid??"

"Gross!!"

"Aahh!! My hair!!"

"What's this??"

"Oh my god!!"

The seven of them continued shooting non stop at the already chaotic and dirty Great Hall. Colored liquid whizzed across the hall and rained over the students. When everything got too messy, they just shoot randomly. Most girls were screaming while some guys were swearing away. People started dashing out of the Great Hall. Within ten minutes, most of the students at the Great Hall were covered with seven different colored liquids on their black cloak, face and hair.

Albus Dumbledore was watching the massive students in front of him from the teachers' table. He stopped the staff from stopping the group who were doing the shooting and asked them to sit back and watch instead. _What a great bang to the end of the year-end feast!!_ He chuckled and continued watching.

After ten more minutes of shooting, the entire student population had cleared the Great Hall, leaving all the staff at their table and a hall full of mess.

"Potter, Black, Lupin, Pettigrew, Evans, Figg, Black." Dumbledore called them, as they were about to leave the hall.

They turned back instantly, suddenly fearing what might happen next.

"What a way to end the school year with a great bang!!" Dumbledore said firmly. All of them could swear that they saw Dumbledore winking at them.

"Thank you, sir. Thank you all my beloved professors for pardoning our imprudence." James addressed to Dumbledore. He then bowed at the staff table and the rest quickly followed him and bowed.

"Ladies and gentlemen, we shall make our departure and please enjoy the rest of your dinner." Sirus spoke politely to the rest of the staff.

The seven of them turned back and ran out of the Great Hall as quickly as they can.

"You made it sound like something great." Lily said, panting lightly.

"Well, you've to admit what we had done was _great_." James said, grinning.

"Let's continue the battle of the colors in the common room." Sirus said, winking at James. 

They charged into the common room and started shooting all over the place at the people who had been trying to clean themselves up.

"Aahhh!!"

"Nooo!!"  
  


"Hheeelllppp!!"

"JAMES!!" Lily shouted as a green blot of liquid hit her cloak. She started chasing after James in the common room and shooting the yellow water wildly at him.


	21. Summer of Separation

**Chapter 20: Summer of Separation**

"Now that you're thirteen. A young man if I must say. Do you understand what is expected from you as my son??" Harry Potter asked his son in a stern but yet fatherly sort of manner. James had just been called to see his father in the study for a father-and-son talk. He had only got back from school the day before and his father seldom called for him unless it's something of great importance.

"Yes, dad."

"Tell me what're the expectations then."

"Make you proud of me. Excel in school. Excel in quidditch. Become a prefect by fifth year and head boy in school. Youngest qudditch player in Hogwarts. Quidditch team captain someday. Be someone useful to the wizarding world."

"Yes, that's right, young man. I've seen some of your friends who are _not_ pure blood. Do not mix with them so closely. Are you clear of that??" Mr. Potter told his son in a firm manner. Harry Potter, the Minster of Magic, was a pureblood wizard himself. He did not despise non-pureblood witches and wizards like the Slytherins. He had developed such a mindset because of his upbringing.

"But, Dad, they're really nice even if they're muggle-borns. They are _my_ friends." James argued. _Lily and Arabella will always be my friends._

"Well, you'll understand some day. Being a pureblood wizard, and being _my_ son, there're certain rules you've got to obey whether you like it or not."

"What do you mean, dad?"

"The most important thing is your wife _must_ be a pureblood wizard and have similar status and wealth. Someone like Stefanie Black and definitely not someone like Lily Evans. Do you understand me??"

"But, dad-" _I like Lily._

"No buts." Mr. Potter said in an unyielding and finalized statement. James knew this tone too well to argue with his father. _Father will not stop me from whom I like or whom I want as wife. I'll make that decision myself. _He stood in silence for a moment.

James wanted to speak his mind when Helen Potter walk into the study and interrupted the father and son conversation.

"Dear, here's your coffee." James watched his mother put the coffee down and spoke softly to his father. Then Mrs. Potter led James out of the study.

"Mum, dad just say-" James wanted to tell his mother about what had happened. He could not believe what he was getting for this break.

"I'll be at your side this time." Helen assured her son.

"How did you know what-"

"He said the exact words ten years ago. Anyway, Sirus and Remus are here." James stared at his mother. Helen gave her son a wink and went off to the living room. _I wonder what's going to happen to my future. _He stood rather still for a moment before returning to his room.

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"Mum!! Dad!! I don't want to go to a summer camp!!" Lily protested. She had just gotten home for less than twenty-four hours and her parents had told her their pre-prepared plans for her this summer. _I can't believe Mum and Dad to do something like this!!_

"Hon, we're having our twentieth wedding anniversary this year and I really want to make it special for your mum." Daryl Evans explained patiently to Lily. Lily looked like she was about to break into tears.

"But Dad, I can stay with my friends for the time-being." Lily argued back. _I don't want to be separated from Bell and Stef. And James._

"We understand, but we would want you to stay connected to _our_ world as well. We accepted the fact that you're a witch, but we don't want you to forget about our _non-magical_ life. Besides, you had been attending summer camps since you were seven. Have you forgotten about those times??" Dawn sat down next to her daughter.

"What about Petunia??" Lily said about to be in tears for being sent to a camp that is a month long. _This is going to be a long, long break._

"She's going to the summer camp for sixteen and above. You're going to the music camp. We know how much you love singing and dancing and music in the past. You haven't changed to someone whom I can't recognize as my Lily, have you??" Dawn said, looking at Lily intensely.

"No, mum. I'm still your Lily. But I just don't like the idea of you two go ahead with a plan for me without my permission." Lily sighed. _There's nothing I can do about it now. I have to accept it. Oh well._

"We're sorry about that. It was meant to be a surprise for both of you. And remember when you were ten, you said that this music camp was too short when it was a fortnight long??" Mr. Evans told his daughter. Back then when Lily returned from the music camp, she kept complaining that it was too short and she wanted to go again at the following summer.

"I guess that would be ok. Is there enough time for me to purchase my school stuff and meet my friends before school starts??"

"Yes, three weeks before September 1st." Mrs. Evans assured Lily.

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"Hey Jamesie, why're you looking so glum??" Remus asked, looking at the gloomy expression on James' face.

"My dad just gave me a lecture."

"Wow, that's something new. I never knew he could talk!!" Sirus exclaimed dramatically. Mr. Potter seldom talked to Sirus and Remus besides at grand parties where their families attend. He was always too busy to have time for James. Their father-and-son relationship had drifted apart over the years.

"It's not funny." James said and went on about what his father told him about his expectations and conduct. He generously skipped the part about pureblood witch for wife. _How could dad say something like that?!?_

"That's normal. I mean, Stef and I've some expectations from our parents being Head Auror and such." Sirus said, trying to cheer his best friend a little. James seldom looked so miserable and gloomy.

"Well, at least both of you aren't werewolves. Do you know I'm sent to a junior werewolf camp this summer??" Remus said, sighing. He settled himself in the couch in James' room, resigned to his own fate.

"WHAT??" James and Sirus shouted simultaneously. Remus started explaining that he would be away in a camp at some faraway place for a month, without any outside contact at all which meant no owl post as well. The camp was meant for traumatized youngsters below sixteen who were bitten and had to lead a werewolf life for the rest of the years until a cure is made.

"You're not _traumatized_. We'll make your werewolf life wonderful someday." Sirus added suggestively. They had been progressing rather well with the Animagi idea. It was a matter of time before they can start on their transformation.

"I can't believe that." James said, shocked at the news. _To think that I thought I was the only one who's suffering this break._

"Neither can I." Remus said sadly. "I just got the news two hours ago from my parents and I've to leave in two days time." He had a rather faraway look on his face. _That's so depressing. I'm going to meet with the depressed youngsters._

"Suddenly the grooming lessons at home sounded so much better, in a way." James sighed, remembering what his father had told him. "Can you believe I've to be taught how to eat and walk like a _man_ for the next six weeks??"

"Oh no!! Then what about me?? I'll be bored to death. Luckily I still have the girls." Sirus said feeling rather relieved at that fact. The girls might not be as great companions as the guys, but that was better than no company at all.

"What about Peter??" Remus asked.

"I received an owl from him last night saying that his parents had forbidden him to keep in contact with any of us. Or else they'll stop him from attending Hogwarts. His parents had locked up all his magical stuff the moment he got home. He could only send one owl post and that's all. We can't even reply his letter. According to him, Hogwarts is his escape from horror house." James explained. Little did they know that Peter was in fact serving Voldemort for the whole summer break.

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"What?!?" Sirus exclaimed.

"You must be fillial." Jason Black told his children that night when Sirus got back from Potter Manor.

"Dad!! How could you??" Stefanie practically yelled.

"But they're your grandparents, my dears. They're old and you two are their only grandchildren. They haven't seen you since you started Hogwarts." Jeraldine explained, trying to coax the thirteen-year-olds.

"Still, we don't need to got for two whole months!!" Sirus whined. _This is not looking good._

"What about Arabella??" Stefanie asked. _Oh no._

"We had spoke to Arabella. She said that she understands and wouldn't mind spending this break to help out at the orphanage she grew up in. We can make the necessary arrangements." Mrs. Black explained.

"Why do we need to go for so long??"

"Two months, Dad, Mum. That's farrr tooooo long."

"They would like to spend some quality time with both of you. We would stay if we weren't too busy at work. Afterall they stayed at muggle countryside. It'll be an eye opener for both of you." Mr. Black said cheerfully.

"Oh, well." Sirus stood, stumped for words. _It can't be that bad, could it?? At least it's better than spending with Stefanie alone._

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"So we shall all gather and stay here two weeks before term starts??" James asked the group. The six thirteen-year-olds had come together for a mass gathering before they all go on their separate ways for the next two months.

"I supposed that's ok but I still have to ask my parents." Lily said after the rest of them had agreed to the idea. _I'm dreading the next two months. One month in camp. And one month at home with Petunia. Oh, that's just so 'great'._

"Let's party tonight before everyone go in their separate ways for two months." Arabella said, trying to sound cheery. _It can't be that bad right. I still have friends there. I wonder how's Celeste doing._

"I've gotten Butterbeers from Three Broomsticks earlier. Let's toast to celebrate this gathering for the two-month separation." Sirus gave a toast and the rest all 'cling' their mugs in synchrony. _Two months with Grandpa and Grandma. That's so boring!!_

"Meet here on August 18th at noon!!" Remus exclaimed. _I hope this werewolf camp is good._

"Yeah. In our.. you know.. trunks!!" Sirus joked, trying to lighten the mood. _Might as well as enjoy today. The next two months might be unbearable._

"Haha.. very funny Siriee!!" Stefanie said sarcastically, and rolled her eyes. _I've to put up with Sirus and only Sirus for the next two months. This gonna be a killer break._

"I'm gonna miss you all!!" Lily said, looking around the group, with a sad look in her eyes. _I'm going to miss everyone so much. Bell.. Stef.. The guys.. James.. Oh my god._

"It's only two months, not two years or something." James said, smiling at her. _I can't see Lily for two months. It just felt so strange. What's happening to me?? She's just a girl, like Stefanie. I must be going nuts._

"It'll be over before we realize it." Lily said with fake optimism, although she was not very keen to be away from her friends for two months. The six of them continued to chat all the way till evening before they headed home via the floo network. _This is going to be the worst summer break ever._


	22. Two Months Later

**Chapter 21: Two months later**

"JAMESIE-POOOO!! WHERE ARE YOU??" Sirus yelled the moment he stepped into Potter Manor from the humongous doorway. Sirus and Stefanie had just flooed home an hour ago from their grandparents' countryside home in Switzerland.

"SIRIEE-SSYYY!!" James called out the moment he heard Sirus' voice in the hallway. He dashed out of his room and ran towards the voice. The guys came together and gave each other a big bear hug.

"James, it's really great to see you after seeing no one but Sirus for two months!!" Stefanie said giving James a big bear hug after Sirus and James entangled themselves. _Finally I see a human. Sirus is a monster!!_

"Well, I'm dying of boredom here. The three of us never separate for that long ever since you guys moved over." James said, returning the brotherly hug. _Me and Stefanie?? It's impossible. She's like a younger sister. I can't imagine her as my wife._

"AHEM!!"

"BELLLLAAAA!!"

"STEEFFFIIII!!"

"AAAAAAAAHHHHH!!" The two girls dashed towards each other forgetting all about their trunks and guys and got into a big hug. The two girls started jumping and hugging, shrieking excitedly. No words needed, especially since they can read each other mind. But in this case no mind reading is needed to know that they had missed each other very much. The guys ignored the crazy girls and drifted into a small chat.

"Jamesie, nice to see you!!" Arabella reached over and gave James a hug when she finally entangled herself from Stefanie's hug. _It had been so long._

"Wonderful to see you too, Bell!!" _Finally. The day has come._

"My dearest Bella, I miss you so much!! By the way only I can call James Jamesie." Sirus exclaimed and gave Arabella a bear hug. _I can't believe I missed Bell. That sounded so impossible. Hmm.. I can feel her chest. Heehee. I'm the luckiest guy on earth._

"I miss you guys too!!"

"LILLLEEE!!" Arabella broke away from Sirus' hug and ran towards the sooty Lily who just walked out from the Potter's fireplace. _We're together again._

"Bell!! I miss you so so so much!!" Lily burst into happy tears and she hugged Arabella tightly. _I finally get to see my friends again. I really miss them so much. More than I could imagine. I wonder what will I be without them._

"Oh Lils, I miss you so so so much!!" Stefanie said smiling as she hugged Lily tightly. _The three of us. Once again. Life is wonderful._

"Stef!! You can't imagine how happy I'm now!!" Lily had tears in her eyes already. The three girls hugged together for a few moments. _Bell. Stef. My best friends in the whole world. I'm so lucky!!_

"Oh flower!! And what's with the 'so so so much'??" Sirus grinned at Lily and gave her a brotherly hug. _Hmm.. Lils is not as developed as Bell. But still can feel something._

"Oh Sirus!!" Lily gave her good friend a hug, did not bothered to explain the girly stuffs to him. _How much I missed Bell and Stef is totally beyond explanation. He certainly grew taller since the last time I hugged him. That's fast._

"Lils, I miss you so much!!" James said as he gave Lily a big and tight hug. _I like hugging Lily. That's strange. Well, I can feel her chest. Oh, I can't believe my luck. Heehee._

"I miss you too, James!!" Lily returned his bear hug equally tightly. _I missed James so much. More than Sirus and Remus. I think I'm developing a crush on him. This is so wrong. He's my good friend. That's going to be so awkward._

"Where's Remus??" Stefanie asked as the group finally finished hugging one another. _I wonder what's keeping him. I actually can't wait to see him. Don't tell me I had fallen for him!! Oh great._

"He was the one who told us not to be late." Sirus said, imitating Remus voice. His voice had started to break and sounded a little off pitch. The imitated voice sounded far from Remus'. _It's not the full moon tonight. I'm sure of that._

"Of course you can't be late. You're staying _next_ door." Lily said jokingly wiping her teary eyes. _They're so lucky to be staying so close to James. How I wish I could stay in Godric's Hollow too. But it's a wizarding neighborhood._

"Speak of the devil." James said smiling at the person standing at the fireplace. _All here. Finally. _Lily ran towards Remus and gave him a big brotherly hug. Remus was a little shocked at the outburst but was happy nevertheless.

"Remus, I missed you!!" Lily said and hugged him. _I wish Remus were my brother. We just had this brother-sister bond there. I've it with Sirus too. But James. It felt different._

"What devil?? I miss you too, Lils." Remus said jokingly as he gave Lily a brotherly hug. _Hm.. Lily gotten more developed from the last time I hugged her._

"REMMY!!" All of them dashed towards Remus to hug him.

"Wooahh!!" Remus got pushed backwards from his ecstatic friends. _I'm so glad I've friends like them._

"OH REMUS!! I missed you!!" Stefanie said as she hugged Remus. _I miss you. In fact I think I might even like you. But I can't possibly tell you that._

"I miss you lots too!!" Remus whispered to her ear. _Hmm.. Stef's chest is definitely the most developed. I'm the luckiest guy on earth. _Remus was feeling a little dreamy and lingered the hug a little longer than he had expected. 

"Ok, enough of hugging. Let's go and get some food." James instructed and led the group towards the ballroom-sized dining hall. The girls were chatting excitedly over how much they missed each other. In fact the last time they owled each other was only the day before. They just had too much to say to one another.

"WOW!!" Lily was amazed at the sight. There was a table full of food, which looked like it was meant for a banquet when there were only six of them. They sat around the table and started eating ravenously. The house elves kept bringing more food once a plate is cleared. The poor house-elves definitely had a busy evening.

The growing thirteen-year-olds helped themselves with multiple servings and stuffed their faces with all sort of food. There was a wide range of pastas and pizzas.

"Can't make it already." Stefanie was the first to stop eating after her Hawaiian pizza and went to sit by one of the six large couches, which was arranged in a circular manner around the fireplace.

"I'm full as well." Remus said when he cleared his plate of beef lasagna and went to join Stefanie at the fireplace. _I feel like spending some time with Stef. Really missed her lots._

"I'm filled." Lily said when she finished her creamy chicken linguine and she walked over to join Stefanie and Remus five minutes later. _One of the most sumptuous meals I ever had._

"Me too!!" Arabella left the dining table after her third slice of supreme pizza and headrf towards the couches. _I'll puke if I continue to eat with Sirus and James._

"That's what you called a filling lunch." James said as the two guys walked over to join the rest fifteen minutes later. The two guys had a very satisfied look on them.

"Well, only to you two maybe." Lily said jokingly who was too full to move from her couch. _James' expression looks cute. Oh great. I better don't think of it that way. This is ridiculous._

"Our stomachs are bottomless pits, you see." Sirus said, and he gave a loud burp to maximize the effect. _This is a great feeling. I can't do this in front of Grandma. She'll scream. Haha._

"Eeeewwww." The girls chorused and looked at Sirus in total disgust at his loud blenching sound, which they found totally nauseating.

Then the six of them just sat by the fireplace and talked about their summer holidays. All of them were too full, too lazy or too tired to move.

Suddenly, there was a roar at the fireplace. The six of them jumped and headed behind their couches. Out came..

"FION!!" Lily, Arabella and Stefanie shouted and dashed to give her a hug. The girls treated Fion as the type of older sister they never had, and Fion treated the girls as the younger sisters she never had.

"Hey girls, it's so wonderful to see you again after so long." Fion said and hugged the girls in a sisterly fashion.

"Hey Siriee and Remmy, long time no see!! And you too Jamesie!!" Fion grinned; she had always managed to make the guys kept quiet at least for a short while.

"Oh my lovely lady, you had grown prettier since the last time I seen you." Sirus walked up to Fion, kissed her hand and gave a bow.

"Oh my hero, I could hardly recognize you as the little boy I last seen two months ago."

"I'm not a little boy anymore, my lady." All of them broke into laughter, including Fion and Sirus.

"I leave you guys here, gotta head back to my room." Fion smiled as she sashayed up the circular steps in the grand hall of Potter Manor in her office wear.

"Let's head back to my room to continue. Who knows _who_ might come up next?" James said and led the group to his room, which by now all of them knows where is it.

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"I can't believe the last two weeks just flew by!!" Lily said while the three girls were sleeping together on a king-sized four-poster bed. _I sure wouldn't mind spending all my summers like this. But I also know good times never last long so I must cherish every moment we've together._

"Well, you had so much fun with James that's why." Arabella said and she giggled. _Should I read her mind?? I'm pretty sure it's mainly about James._

"No, I don't. I had fun with you _two_." Lily argued stubbornly. _What James!! I had fun when the six of us are together._

"Haha, don't deny, Lils. That was so obvious. Since the hug two weeks ago especially." Stefanie said as she started yawning. _I wonder what're the guys doing now. I wonder what is Remus doing now._

_Stef, let's check out what Lils thinking about._

_Great idea, Bell._

_I'm not thinking of anyone or anything now in case you two invade my privacy by popping up in my thoughts again._

_How did you now we'll pop by??_

_We had been good friends for three years, my dear Arabella. And you two are having the Let's-pop-by-Lily's-thoughts look on your faces, just for your information._

_Ok ok, time to sleep._

Arabella turned towards the right edge of the bed, Stefanie turned towards the left edge of the bed, leaving the middle portion all to Lily. She stared at the ceiling and started thinking about school and summer holidays and.. James.

_Still say you're not thinking of James??_

_Hey Stef, how come you still can read my thoughts with your back facing me??_

_I use my mind, my dear Lily, for your information. I don't need to see the person to get into the thoughts._

_Oh my god!! I'm not even safe when your back is facing me._

When there were no more voices from Stefanie, Lily assumed that both of them had dozed off. After some time, Lily fell into a deep sleep drifting into a dream involving James. Once again.


	23. Back to School

**Chapter 22: Back to School**

The whole back-to-school events came and gone so quickly. They had so much fun heading to King Cross Station in the Potters' limousine, joking with one another along the way, and going through Platform nine and three-quarters in which they crashed into one another creating chaos at the platform. And lastly, pranking the Slytherins in the train to amuse themselves. The next thing they knew they were at the Great Hall waiting for the feast to start.

"The first-years look so cute!! I wonder was that how our seniors looked at us when we were the ones being sorted." Lily said, clapping as another first year was announced into Gryffindor. _I never get tired watching the sorting ceremony. The first-years look so adorable. It was just three years back when I was the one sitting up there. How time flies._

"I bet they can't be bothered after the first five. It gets boring after some time. But of course nothing is interesting without the Marauders." James answered, giving a something-is-up-in-my-sleeves smile, winking at Remus. _Animagi.. here comes the Marauders!!_

"Something is going to happen. I just know it." Lily said smiling as she noticed the winking around. _What could be their prank this year?? I'm kinda looking forward to see._

"Why is the sorting so _long_??" Sirus asked, pretending to be fainting of hunger while Peter was staring greedily at the empty plates and goblets. _Why can't they hurry up with the sorting??_

"It isn't _that_ long!" Arabella replied and rolled her eyes. Sirus' actions seem to always irritate her in a way or another. _I can't believe Sirus is whining. Oh my god!!_

"Only seven more to go. Hold on, Sirus, don't ever give up!!" Remus counted the number of first-years in the queue and then clasped onto Sirus' hand dramatically.

"Don't hold my hand!! Makes me look so gay!!" Sirus whined in a very effeminate manner. The whole group burst into laughter.

Suddenly silence flood the Great Hall as Dumbledore made his usual short speech and announced the commencement of the feast.

Burgers of all sorts, fries, fried chicken, pizza, etc. appeared on the plates. Coke, sprite, and other soft drinks appeared in their goblets instead of the usual spread. Everyone started heaping his or her plates with enormous amount of food. The start-of-year feast seems to have adopted the idea of fast food theme with burgers that looked like from MacDonalds, and pizzas, that looked like from Pizza Hut. The food tasted so much like the food from muggle fast food restaurants.

"This is an interesting start-of-year feast." Lily said, getting to her third helping of fillet-o-fish. _Fast food never taste that nice. Perhaps it all depends on whom I'm eating with._

"I don't remember ever eating something like this in restaurants. What is it called??" James asked, holding up a piece of chicken nugget. _This is yummy whatever its name is._

"Chicken nugget!!" Lily said suggestively. _I didn't know nuggets were not common in the wizarding world. Or is it not a restaurant kind of food that James usually eats. Anyway, this is something new._

"These chicken nuggets are nice." Sirus said stupidly as he stuffed another two pieces into his mouth. _Yummy. Crispy._

"Seriously Sirus, is there any food you don't think is nice??" Lily asked, taking a piece of chicken nugget too. _The guys made these simple nuggets taste so good._

"I don't like erm.. I hate those type of food so much that I can't remember anymore." Sirus replied with his mouth rather full frm nuggets and started eating a McChicken.

"I don't remember that you actually don't _like_ any type of food. You eat practically everything!!" James said, taking a slice of Hawaiian pizza and the grated cheese powder and sprinkled over his pizza.

"Pass me the cheese after you are done with it." Remus said, taking a slice of pepperoni pizza onto his plate.

"Lily, you want?" Stefanie asked after she finished sprinkling the cheese powder onto her pepperoni pizza.

"Nah, I hate cheese." Lily replied, eating a piece of Hawaiian pizza without grated cheese or red pepper. _I wonder how people can eat something so cheesy. I just can't bring myself to eat that._

"You're the first one that I know who don't like cheese." James said in a surprise, and helped himself with generous amount of grated cheese powder. _So cute. Lily doesn't like cheese. Maybe I can create a prank that involved cheese._

"Personal preference I supposed. I don't like the taste or the smell of plain cheese. If the cheesy taste and smell is concealed, I don't mind. Like cheese _in_ pizza."

"Hey, look at that first-year, she's pretty." Sirus said, pointing at a light blonde hair girl who was sitting with some other first-years at the end of the Gryffindor table. The girl was remarkably pretty for an eleven-year-old. Her facial features made her looked very sweet and innocent but yet bubbly and wild on her expression.

"She must be a veela, or at least half veela." Remus told the rest, taking another look at her nevertheless. Even Peter was staring her the girl, open-mouthed. _Pretty and sweet. Not my type. I prefer someone angelic like Stef. Oh great. I'm crazy._

"What's a veela?" Lily asked the rest. The four guys, along with most of the guys in the Great Hall, were ogling at the first year Gryffindor with the same expression. Stefanie explained to the two of them the meaning of veela since the three guys were unable to talk all the sudden. They practically started drooling.

The three girls continued eating their food while the guys were taking occasional glances at the attractive girl. Their conversation stopped totally for the rest of the feast. However, the three girls continued their small chat without the Mauraders.

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After Dumbledore made his annual announcements regarding the important reminders, they were herded up to their respective towers by the house prefects.

"Hi, my name is Sirus Black, what's yours??" Sirus jogged up towards the sweet first-year who was walking solo at the shifting staircases. _She looks good closed up._

"Gracie Lockhart." The long wavy blond hair girl replied politely.

"That's a sweet name, Gracie. I'm James Potter by the way." James ran up and walked with Gracie on her left side. _Wow. Prettier than I thought._

"You're the son of Minister of Magic!!" Gracie suddenly jotted to a realization at the mention of the last name Potter.

"Yeah, but that's nothing to be proud of." James said, blushing a little. James was rather popular partially because of his father's reputation as the Minister of Magic. His father was one of the most honorable and respectable men in the wizarding world.

"Ladies first." James said and allowed Gracie to enter the common room first. _Cute girl. But I think I would prefer someone like Lily. I must be nuts manz._

"Wow!!" The impressed first-years look around the common room in amazement. The seventh year prefects, Leo Jordon and Angela Moody called all the first-years to gather around for a short briefing in the common room.

"See you around, Gracie." Remus said as he started pushing the three guys up to their dormitory before all of them get started on their ogling fest again. Remus was the one who can exercise the most self-control among the four Marauders.

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"Can you believe Sirus, and the rest of them??" Arabella asked in disbelief. _The Great Hall and common room were practically flooded with saliva. She's just a pretty face._

"Well, they're normal guys. Besides that Gracie Lockhart is really appealing, you know." Lily said reasonably and started to unpack her trunk. _Even James was ogling rather seriously. He doesn't seem to look at me in that manner though. Why should I be sad about that??_

"I know she's gorgeous and everything. But why all the guys flock to her like bees to honey??" Arabella replied, lying on her bed. _The guys don't even know her!!_

"Why are you so concern what Sirus do?" Stefanie said as she walked out of the bathroom while Arabella went in. _Bell like Sirus. Haha. Sirus like Bell. They sounded so cute together._

"The Lockhart family produces very good-looking people." Samantha told them as she unpacked her trunk at the other side of the room.

"Why??" Lily asked in amazement. _A family of good-looking people. Sounds like something out from the movies or books._

"Their female ancestors are all veelas. But the males of the family are usually himbos." Joey joked.

"That sounds funny, Joey. You mean they're all pure blood wizards as well?" Lily asked curiously as Arabella walked out of the bathroom in her nightwear. _Gracie Lockhart. Sweet name for a sweet girl._

"The Lockharts are usually writers, or singers, basically literature and musically talented in a sense. Not to mention they're mostly models as well." Samantha explained as she hopped onto her bed literally.

"That first-year Hufflepuff which I think could be Gracie's brother, Gilderoy, is quite a cute little boy as well. He seems pretty egoistic though, and flirt with girls from seventh years as well." Joey said, laughing in a mused manner.

"How did you know??" Lily asked, grinning as well. _What a funny family._

"Jun Chang from Ravenclaw told me. That Gilderoy even approached her and introduced himself!!" Joey said, all the girls in the dormitory burst into hysterical laughter. Jun Chang was a Ravenclaw and a third-year as well.

"This is probably the funniest thing that can happen in the first day." Lily exclaimed, quite amused at the whole situation. _This year looks interesting. Well, there's gonna be some amusement with the Lockhart twins somehow._

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"The conclusion is Gracie Lockhart must be a veela." James said firmly, drying his hair and trying to neaten it. _Gracie is gorgeous. But I prefer Lily personally._

"Definitely, how could any girl be _this_ pretty and normal?" Sirus added, admiring his reflection of a neater-looking hair beside James. The guys were all talking about the new girl in their dormitory. _I must be the most good-looking guy around._

"Well, she's pretty and charming for an eleven-year-old. But I don't think she enjoys all these attention showered on her." Remus said, turning to Peter, who was unpacking his trunk and not joining in the conversation. _I got this bad feeling about Peter. I must be ridiculous. Peter is my friend._

"Only people worthy of the Marauders to be noticed are special." Sirus said, combing his hair neatly to spite James. _James look like me if his hair is neater._

"Just because she's pretty that's why you said that!!" James said, trying to mess up Sirus' hair at the same time. The two guys actually looked rather identical in terms of physique and facial features beside the slight differences in hair and eye colour.

"Knock it out guys. It's nearing midnight and don't forget we have lessons tomorrow." Remus reminded the two guys as he climbed into his bed. _What a day._

"One more important thing, we really have to find a way to turn ourselves to animals as soon as possible. It had been more than a year and we're not having much progress so far." James said, turning back into his cozy four-poster bed and drew the curtains. _Animagus. What a challenge. I love challenges._

"Let's hit the library tomorrow during the breaks to get all the books before anyone else gets it." Sirus said and climbed into his bed as well. _This is going to be exciting!!_

"I don't remember Sirus and library actually can actually come together." James said jokingly to the rest of the guys. Remus and Peter gave a sleepy laugh.

"James and library crashes too." Sirus retorted jokingly.

"I didn't say I was going to the library tomorrow. You did." James replied, sounding a little sleepy. _Lily. Lily. Lily. Why am I thinking about her?? Totally ridiculous._

"Fine."

"Good night everyone." Remus said, trying to get to sleep. The rest of the three guys muttered a good night and the dorm went silence.

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"Nothing happened??" Lily asked in amazement and walked out of the portrait hole. _No prank or whatsoever?? This is strange. It just feels so unnatural._

"Nope. We're looking fine." Arabella looked at herself, and check out if anyone else is giving them weird looks. _The Marauders didn't do anything?? I bet there's something going on in the Great Hall._

"We appear to be normal. I doubt the guys will ever prank on us anymore ever since the first revenge we had on them." Stefanie giggled at the thought. It was as fresh as yesterday, there were photos to proof and they kept them in case they needed to blackmail the guys. _Full moon coming up in a couple of days. Poor Remus._

"Is there any differences in the Great Hall??" Lily asked, looking around and walking into the Great Hall towards their usual seats. _This is weird. Totally weird!!_

"No rabbits or whatsoever." Stefanie said, looking around in amazement. _I'm having a bad feeling whatever the guys are going to do._

"Did someone kidnapped the Marauders last night??" Lily asked, as she sat across Arabella and Stefanie and started heaping her plate with egg and toast. _Maybe something more interesting is coming up. Anyway I'm starving._

"Don't tell me they stopped pranking??" Arabella joked as she helped herself with the eggs and orange juice. _This can't be happening, right??_

"That doesn't sound possible. Their last prank was still on the train yesterday." Lily said, thinking about the fluffy-looking Slytherins on the train. The Slytherins remained fluffy until they reached the Great Hall where Professor Porky changed them back to normal. The four guys then earned the first detention in the year. They thought it was worth it.

"Morning girls." Remus said as he walked over and sat in front of Stefanie. _Stef looks pretty today. Bish!! You idiotic brain. How can you think like that??_

"Where are James and Sirus? And Peter?" Lily asked curiously. The four guys seem to be inseparable, at least during meal times so far. _Hmm.._

"Still in the dorm. I gotten hungry so I came down first." Remus said, started eating. He felt guilty lying to the girls. _I can't let them know that the rest of them are in the library doing research on Animagi for my sake. It will break the trust Dumbledore had on me. And I'll disappoint my parents as well. Why am I a werewolf?? Why me??_

"Really?" Lily asked again, raising her eyebrows suspiciously. _I got this feeling that Remus is lying._

"Yeap." Remus replied not looking at Lily. He heaped some toast and eggs onto his plate.

"No beginning-of-the-year prank this year??" Stefanie asked Remus. _Remus looks a little off. Must be because the full moon is coming. He became like that all because of me. And I can't do anything to help him._

"Nope, we're going to have more exciting pranks coming up. That requires detailed planning and many discussions. We couldn't get it done in time for today because it usually takes about a month to have the biggest prank of the year. Small little pranks on Slytherins are not counted. And they don't deserve the honor to get it on the first day." Remus joked, smiling at them. _Well, it's difficult to be a nice guy._

"So what's next?" Lily asked curiously. _Remus is hiding something. It must be the werewolf and stuff. Full moon is about three days away._

"Only the Marauders know." Remus started eating his food, hoping the girls would stop asking him so many questions. _Remind me to grab someone else next time. I'm feeling guiltier by the minute._

"Here's your timetable. Miss Evans, Miss Figg and Miss Black. And yours too, Mr. Lupin. Where's Mr. Potter, Mr. Black and Mr. Pettigrew??" Professor McGonagall asked, noticing that the school infamous pranksters were missing for breakfast. _This is strange. The four of them are always together._

"They're still in the dorm, Madam. I came to collect the timetables for them." Remus said politely, suddenly looking very innocent.

"I hope you guys are not up to any mischief this year. I had a big headache with the rabbits last year because of what you guys had done." Professor McGonagall said, pointing at Remus but in a humored manner. She had a soft spot for the guys. As naughty as they are, the Marauders have no problem in communicating with Professor McGonagall the 'right' way.

Lily, Arabella and Stefanie were stifling their giggles at the way Remus was talking to Professor McGonagall. It was an interesting sight nevertheless. Afterall, Professor McGonagall seldom showed the humorous side of her in front of students.

After Professor McGonagall left the four of them, Remus heaved a sign of relief.

"Remus, that was so unlike you!!" Lily exclaimed softly, eyes widening at the Remus who just conversed with the strict and no-joke Professor McGonagall. _I can't believe I ever see McGonagall looking like that._

"Well, I learnt after spending three years with James and Sirus." Remus said smiling. _Finally they stop asking about James and Sirus._

"That's a really good tactic, you know." Stefanie added, her admiration for Remus also increased. _Remus is so gorgeous and witty and smart. Oh merlin, I'm falling head over heels on him._

"I guess that's normal after she screamed at us about hundred over times back in the first year. We realized this tactic is very useful in dealing with her." Remus said, looking at the direction where Professor McGonagall was looking very stern, talking to a few frightened first-years.


	24. Quidditch Tryouts

**Chapter 23: Quidditch Tryouts**

"Say I'm the most good-looking guy you've ever seen." James said as he pinned Sirus on the floor and sat on his stomach in the boys' dormitory. _I hate spectacles!! _James had just gotten his new spectacles. He was the first and only one who was in spectacles among the seven. One reason why he hated spectacles was that he did not even know how on earth had he gotten short sighted in the first place.

"I'm the most good-looking guy you've ever seen." Sirus said jokingly. Sirus was laughing hysterically at the hospital wing when Madam Pomfrey was making James tried on his spectacles. Madam Pomfrey had changed the frames and shape of the spectacles umpteen times until James finally settled for one.

"No, not that." James exclaimed exasperatedly.

"Sirus, just say that James is the most good-looking guy you've ever seen just to please him." Lily said laughing at the funny scene whereby James was sitting of Sirus' stomach and his hands were pinned down under James' legs. Sirus was not exactly struggling to be released either. Perhaps he knew that James would release him finally. Afterall they know each other for years.

"Lily, how can I say that when the fact is I'm the most good-looking guy on earth??" Sirus exclaimed, rather persistent not to say that James is not the best looking.

"Cut it out guys!! James, I think you look good in spectacles actually. The silver frame actually frame your face really well and bring out your brown eyes even better." Lily said, laughing despite the fact that she mentioned the truth. _I love guys in specs. James is looking better by the day. Argh.. what am I thinking of??_

"Sirus was openly laughing at me." James complained while everyone in the room started laughing. The girls were in the boys' dormitory once again. They were just hanging out in their dorm because the common room was too crowded. They could not hang out at the girls' dormitory because there were other girls besides the three of them. The four Marauders, on the other hand, occupied the whole room to themselves.

"I did not."

"You did."

"I did not."

"We're getting out of here. It's getting boring. C'mon Lils and Stef." Arabella suggested and headed out of the dormitory. _I don't wanna get caught in there again. The guys were being totally ridiculous. _Lily and Stefanie left the room after Arabella while James and Sirus were still busy having a small debate on the ground. Remus was reading a book while Peter was already sleeping with his curtain closed.

"I'm the most good-looking guy."

"You're not."

"I'm."

"No way."

"Yes way."

"No."

"Yes."

"Ok, Si, just say and get over with it." Remus suggested, looking up at Sirus, while he continued reading a book on _Animagus Transformation_.

"Yeah, Sir, just admit the fact that you're not as good looking as me." James said smirking. _I hate specs!!_

"Sit all that you want. No way am I going to say something to deceive my best friend." Sirus replied and pretended to fall asleep. _The floor is uncomfortable. But no way am I going to give in. Wasted I can't use my powers now. _Sirus looked around the room for his wand.

"We still need to do some research on Animagus for your information." James said, trying to reach for another book on _Animagus: Animal of your Choice_.

"Once you get up from my stomach then we can continue."

"Not after you say that."

"That."

"Fine, I continue to sit and read while you just lie there." James said and turned to the page on selecting animals to be transfigured. _What animal should I be??_

"We need to find animals that are strong enough to stop a werewolf from attacking." Remus said softly as he went to check the door for any by-passer. He locked the room and charmed it to be soundproof. The guys often had discussion of pranks in the dormitory and they had to make sure it's always soundproof.

"Yes, so what do you suggest?" Sirus asked, hoping to disturb James concentration. He could not do any magic because James had confiscated his wand and hidden it somewhere whereby he could not see. _I can read James' thoughts and see where he hid my wand. But I've to look at the wand in order to make it move. How about I move James?? I don't think I can move living objects. Oh, this is getting painful. _James was 1.6m and weight about 50kg while Sirus was 2cm shorter and 4kg shorter. James was the tallest and biggest in size among the four of them.

"I think something big like lion, tiger, cheetah or elephant is suitable." Peter said sleepily and he turned back to bed after his stupid suggestion. _What should I transfigure myself to?? Something small?? I can ask my master what does he think I should be. This is really advanced magic. James and Sirus are brilliant students._

"We need something that is easy to travel along the tunnel below Whomping Willow. We're not supposed to be seen for sure. I don't think an elephant trooping around the school can go unnoticed." James said, adjusting his new spectacles to a more comfortable position. Madam Pomfrey had told James that he was shortsighted and had to wear his spectacles at all times. There was only temporary cure to shortsightedness at the moment so James had no choice but to put up with spectacles.

"Not too big but yet fast and strong." Sirus concluded. _What can I be?? I must be something that is good looking enough to fit me._

"We sure have a lot of research to get going on. Animagi transformation isn't supposed to be easy as it stated here that all Animagi have to be registered under Ministry of Magic." Remus said, reading from a paragraph in the book. _This is going to be tough. I shouldn't be supporting them actually. But having friends during transformation is something I really want. The transformation during the camp was pretty bad. A group of werewolves together isn't possible. What should I do??_

"So we need to be animals that are common around Hogwarts, not too big and bulky, strong enough to hold a werewolf from attacking, don't make too much noise, fast enough to escape from people's sight." James concluded. _How about some animal that is common in the Forbidden Forest??_

"Yeah." Sirus said agreeing to James conclusion, hoping for a distraction.

"I think we better get some sleep. There's quidditch tryout tomorrow and we all want to get into the team." James said as he let out a huge yawn.

"Yeah, time to bed." Sirus agreed totally. _I'm getting a cramp on my stomach. My muscles. Ouch._

"Ok, I let you off this time." James said, getting up from Sirus and climbed into his bed. He took off his spectacles and put it on the bedside table.

"Good night guys." Remus said. Two mutter goodnights from James and Sirus. Everyone thought Peter was already sound asleep. Peter was in fact deep in thoughts to hear the good nights.

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"How can I be a good chaser with this stupid circles??" James complained as they ate their breakfast on a bright and sunny Saturday morning. He had worn his new spectacles unwillingly. The six of them had got up earlier on Saturday to get prepared for the Quidditch tryout at ten. _Argh!! I hate specs!!_

"They're not stupid circles. They are _oval_ by the way." Lily said, laughing at the complaining James. Some people had commented to James that he looked cute in spectacles but James took it as an insult more than a compliment. Gracie had told James that he looked cute just that morning in fact.

"Well, if you've stupid ovals around your eyes and you still make a great quidditch player, that's brilliant." Sirus joked. _James looks funny. Hahaha._

"James, why are so conscious about your looks?? Frankly I think everyone is right. You do look cute in your specs, you know. Besides how can you play well if you can't see clearly." Lily said, looking at James and eating her toast at the same time. _I, for one, think James looks wonderful in specs. Afterall, most guys look adorable in specs._  
  


"We just play our best and hope to get into the team. Three available places this year if I'm not wrong. One chaser and two beaters." Remus said. The notice about the Quidditch tryout was put up a week ago at the common room. Many people were interested and started practicing for the position. James, Sirus and Remus were confident of getting into the school team because they had been riding broomsticks as long as they can remember. Since young, their parents had hired quidditch instructors to teach them everything they needed to know about the game.

"Let's aim to get into the team. And cheers!!" James held up his goblet to Sirus and Remus. _I must get into the team. I'm sure I can get in anyway._

"You guys aren't the only ones. We want to get into the team as well, for your information." Lily said and she held out her goblet to Arabella and Stefanie. _It would be so fun riding on a broomstick. But I doubt I'm even good enough to be in the team. The three guys had training since young and I only started two years ago._

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"Nervous??" Lily asked the rest of them. All of them were carrying Nimbus 1500 broomsticks, best broomstick two years ago. The six of them were the envy of many as Nimbus 1500 was an expensive broomstick, which cost a few hundred galleons. Peter did not have a broomstick and James had offered to lend him his for the tryouts.

"Not at all, I'm sure I can get in." James boasted. He had been playing quidditch as far as he can remember and he know he make a great player for any position in the team. _I don't think I make a great seeker though. But anyway, I don't fancy being a seeker. I would rather be the chaser or keeper. Captain of Gryffindor, someday._

"All those who are trying out for the chasers follow me." Leo Jordon, Captain of Gryffindor team and seventh year prefect, shouted at the crowd of Gryffindors who were gathered at the quidditch pitch. James, Remus, Lily, Arabella and Stefanie followed him. The next thing that happened they were all up in the air. Passing the quaffle to each other and scoring one goals after another. About half an hour later, all of them came down. Leo Jordon was discussing about the Chaser selection with his three other teammates before heading back towards the crowd.

"We've selected James Potter to be our third Chaser. Thank you for participating in the tryouts." Angela Moody announced and some people clapped. A few other students who were aiming for the position left the pitch disappointed.

"Congrats!!" Sirus said and gave James a slap on his back. James had that I-know-I-definitely-can-get-into-the-team look which infuriated the girls.

"Now for the beaters, follow me." Andrew Spinnet announced to the rest of the remaining Gryffindors. The five of them and ten other Gryffindors mounted their broomstick and started beating four bludgers around hitting one another off their broomsticks. The number of people dropping from their broomsticks and giving up after some injuries increased as the tryout continued. Needless to say, Sirus and Remus had been the cause of all the injuries.

After an hour of beating, only Sirus, Remus, Lily, Arabella and Stefanie remained mounted on their brooms safely. Peter had been the first few of fell off from James' broomstick when someone hit the bludger at him.

"The five of you are the best beaters I've ever seen, but we can only have two. So the five of you have to hit each other off course until only there are only two left." Kenneth Bell announced to the five of them in the air, and flew off to the ground to continue watching with the four other quidditch team and James.

"Ouch!!"

"What's with the sudden violence??"

"AAAHHHH!!"

"I think you injured my arm!!"

"I'm not letting you off with this!"

"Get off me!!"

"NOOO!!"

"Phew!!"  
  


"ARGH!!"

"We're not enemies!!"

"Hey!! That hurts!!"

"OOO, close shave!!"

Sirus and Remus were hitting the bludgers vigorously at the three girls while the girls were trying to hit back to them.

"All of you come down now!!" Leo's voice suddenly filled the entire stadium. The five third-years flew down and joined the rest of the team members. Lily had bruises on her leg while Arabella had her wrist broken, and even Stefanie had three close encounters from falling off her broomstick. Sirus and Remus, remained unhurt throughout.

"We come to the conclusion that Sirus Black and Remus Lupin shall be our beaters." Angela Moody announced.

"That's not fair."  
  
"We played well!!"

"Why did they get in??"

"Calm down girls, it was rather clear that Sirus and Remus had been the best beaters. You girls are great too. But beaters had to be strong. We're not being bias or saying that girls are weaker. Look, I'm a female and I'm in the team. You can try out again next year when Leo and I graduate leaving two spaces available for you all." Angela said kindly and accompanied the three girls to the infirmary.

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"HOORAY!! We got in!!" James shouted happily as all the four Marauders headed back to their common room a few hours after the quidditch tryout. The four of them had stayed back to fly around the pitch. They were all sweaty, smelly and dirty. _This is a wonderful feeling. I'm in the team with two of my best friends. Well, poor Peter._

"Yeah!! We're the best among the rest!!" Remus cheered as they climbed up the moving staircases gingerly. _I can't believe I can get into the team in my condition._

"Well, we definitely get in. We're born with the talent." Sirus said as he skipped the broken step. _I always dream of being a beater. Someday I want to go international._

"I'm kinda hungry." James said merrily. _Forgot all about hunger._

"Me too. Let's change quickly and we head down to the Great Hall for lunch." Sirus suggested as they started hurrying up the stairs. _I wonder what's for lunch today._

"I'm so hungry that I can eat a cow today." Remus joked. Remus appetite had always been the smallest among the four. But when compared to most of the guys, his appetite is big. James and Sirus' appetites were merely unusually huge.

"You _always_ eat cow anyway." James teased. Remus' appetite was big, but never as huge as James and Sirus. _I want to eat something heavy today. Maybe pasta. Cheesy and filling. Oh ya, a cheesy prank._

"Yeah, right. You eat two cows all the time." Remus replied jokingly, as James told the pink lady the password for the week. _I'm starved. What's lunch for today?? I hope it's beefy._

"We must have a celebration!!" Sirus exclaimed ecstatically. Peter looked a little disappointed.

"Peter, you did well too!! Don't give up. There's always next year." James told Peter comfortingly as he put his arm over his shoulders. Peter nodded sadly but smiled nevertheless. _James, Sirus and Remus are nice guys. In fact, I love being their friend. Why would Master want to get rid of them??_

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"Lunch was over!!" James exclaimed as they looked at the emptying Great Hall. Only empty plates and goblets were left. There was barely any decent amount of food to even fill one of them. _This is no good._

"Oh no. I don't think I can hold until dinner." Sirus pretended to whine. _I wonder where is the kitchen._

"We've to find the kitchens before we starved to death." Remus said calmly although his stomach was growling wildly. _Kitchens?? But where??_

The four Marauders turned out of the Great Hall and started wondering around finding the kitchens. They climbed up and down the staircases and talked to some paintings to ask for the directions.

"I can't make it already." James said, as he held up his hand to support himself on a painting. "Aaaahhh." James fell into the portrait. _Where am I??_

"What's going on??" Sirus rushed over to see the room they entered. A large group of house-elves was rushing around the room. _Woah. Where are we??_

"Wah, so many house-elves!!" Remus exclaimed as about ten house-elves rushed towards them. _Don't tell me this is the kitchen._

"Can we help you, Mister??" One house elf asked them.

"We're looking for the kitchen, any idea where is it?" James asked, feeling very weak after two hours of finding the kitchen. _I hope this is the kitchen. House-elves work in the kitchen, right??_

"Here is the kitchen, Mister." Another house elf replied.

"HERE??" James exclaimed excitedly, using up his last ounce of strength. _I can't believe our luck._

"We're starving, do you mind if you get us some leftover food??" Remus asked them; since James, Sirus and Peter looked totally feeble to do anything. _I hope it's nice._

"Mister, what would you like to eat??" A house elf asked.

"Anything will do. We're starving!!" James said halfheartedly, sitting down on the entrance of the kitchen after the portrait closed. _I'm starved._

"Here's some pasta, Misters." Four house elves carried four steaming plate of delicious looking creamy chicken linguine.

"Terrific!!"

"Yummy!!"

"Fantastic!!"

"Superb!!"

"Can I have another helping of some other food please??" James asked politely. He was the first to empty his plate. He started eating a plate of beef lasagna greedily as soon as it was served.

"Me too."  
  


"Me three."

"Me four."

"Do you have any more food?? The pasta was kinda filling." James asked after he finished his second helping of lunch.

"How about some chocolate ice cream, Mister??" A house elf suggested.

"Brilliant." James smiled at the house elf. A few house elves hurried towards the inner part of the kitchen and brought four large bowls of chocolate ice cream. He started digging the semi-solid ice cream greedily.

"Scrumptious!!"

"Great!!"

"Mmmm!!"

"Thank you very much for all your help." James said as he stood up from the place he had been sitting. _New discovery. We'll never starve from now onwards._

"No problem, sir." The house elves replied.

"Can we come back here again??" Sirus asked, looking around at the faces of the house elves surrounding them. _I like this place instantly._

"You're welcome to come anytime you want, sir." A house elf replied.

"How do we get here anyway??" Remus asked. They were rather bewildered how they managed to get into the kitchen so unexpectedly. _Someone should design a Hogwarts map._

"We're directly below the Great Hall actually. The password is to tickle the pear on the portrait of fruit bowl outside, sir." The same house elf replied.

"Don't keep calling us sir ok?? I'm James, he's Sirus, that's Remus and Peter over there." James said as he pointed at the guys while introducing them to the house elves.

"Hi James, I is Scooby, the head of the house elves here." The house elf introduced himself to the guys and bowed politely.

The four guys returned the bow.

"Hi Scooby, thank you for everything." James replied politely, smiling, walking out of the portrait. _Scooby is cute. Remind me of Dobbie at home._

"Do come back often, we seldom have students visitors, James." Scooby replied politely.

"We'll be back for more food!! Don't worry." Sirus exclaimed, excited at the discovery. He walked out of the portrait with Peter who was looking at the house elves strangely.

"You're welcome to be here anytime. Just tell us what you want to eat and we'll prepare for you instantly, Sirus." Scooby replied.

"Thank you very much all of you." Remus said gratefully as he walked out of the portrait door.

"Wow. We found unlimited food supply." James said elatedly to the rest of the food-filled Marauders as they slowly made their way back to Gryffindor tower.

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"Wow!! I'm so jealous!!" Lily exclaimed excitedly.

"They looked powerful!!" Arabella commented eagerly.

"Wait till I get into the team." Stefanie added sourly.

"Thunderblots are the best broom in the world!!" James boasted. The three guys had sent news to their parents that they had gotten into the house Quidditch team after the Quidditch tryout the day before. They had gotten a new broomstick on the next day.

"It had an acceleration of zero to twenty kilometers an hour in ten seconds." Sirus added. The three guys had just received their new broomsticks. Since it was Sunday, the owls had delivered the broomsticks directly to their dormitory. The guys had gotten the three girls over to their dormitory to admire their new racing brooms.

"Let's go and test them." James instructed and mounted his broom. The septet left the third-year boys' dormitory via the window. James, Sirus, and Remus were using their Thunderbolts while the girls were using their own Nimbus 1500. Peter was using James' old broomstick.

They flew over the quidditch pitch, above the Forbidden Forest and around the castle turrets. They were enjoying themselves tremendously in the air on a breezy Sunday afternoon.


	25. Hogsmeade Weekend

**Chapter 24: Hogsmeade Weekend**

"Want to go with me to Hogsmeade??" James asked Lily, following her like a stalker. Lily entered the Gryffindor common room and James followed her closely. Remus had asked Stefanie to go with him to Hogsmeade. Sirus did not want to lose out and asked Arabella as well. Unfortunately for James, both girls had agreed, although rather unwillingly in the first place. Now James had no choice but to ask Lily because he really did not want to go alone or ask any other girl he did not know very well. Remus had came up with the idea of getting a date for this Hogsmeade trip a week ago for some reason or another that James did not know about. _What on earth was Remus thinking when he said that?? Asking a girl out!! Totally ridiculous!! I've to ask a girl out. That's going to be a boring Hogsmeade trip._

"No, thanks!!" Lily replied flatly and headed towards to the third-year girls' dormitory. _Argh!! I don't want to get involved in their newest prank, not when I'm the target!! Whatever their prank is._

"We can go get butterbeers-" James said as the door of the female dormitory closed in front of him. _Sir and Rem managed to ask Bell and Stef to Hogsmeade tomorrow. I don't believe I can't get Lily to go with me._

"Lils, it's just a way of apology for following you all day." James shouted from the outside.

"No, I don't need want an apology. You can walk where you want." Lily shouted from the inside. _Luckily the dorm is empty. Otherwise Bell and Stef gonna make a joke out of this._

"Listen, you want to go Hogsmeade tomorrow??" James asked rather impatiently. _Girls are just so unfathomable. _

"I don't want to go with you." Lily replied. _How could I go on a date with a guy I had a crush on without letting the whole world know?? This is going to be so weird._

"You can't go with Bell or Stef either." James said knowingly, suddenly got an idea.

"Why not??"

"Sir and Rem had already asked them."

"WHAT!!"

"We seldom have Hogsmeade weekends. Tomorrow is the second time. Do you want to go with me or stay in Hogwarts?" James said soothingly. He knew that Lily was very fascinated with the Hogsmeade wizarding village since the last time they went and she was really looking forward to the next trip.

Lily kept quiet. _I thought we agreed to go together?? They didn't even tell me they were going with the guys. What sort of friends are they?? _She was debating in her mind whether should she go or not. Finally she decided.

"Ok then." Lily gave in and opened the dormitory door to talk to James. Hogsmeade weekends were rather rare and she missed the sweets and candy from Honeydukes, and the famous butterbeers from the Three Broomsticks. _What do I have to lose?? Don't let me catch him pulling a prank on me. I'll never let him off._

"See you tomorrow morning then." James smiled. _Settled._

"Okie dokie." _This better not be a joke._

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"Hurry up, Lils!!" The hyper Arabella and Stefanie were all ready to head to the common room to meet the guys while Lily was taking her own sweet time changing. _Bell and Stef are unusually excited to go on a date with the guys. This is really strange._

"Ok. Don't keep hurrying me. You two can go first." Lily changed into a yellow tank top and dark blue jeans rather unwillingly. _I'm having butterflies in my stomach. Great. I'm going on a date with a guy I've a crush on. Isn't it supposed to be fun??_  
  


"We're taking your word for it. See you then. Enjoy yourself." Arabella said before she and Stefanie left the dormitory together cheerfully. The door closed and she was the only girl left since Samantha and Joey had left for Hogsmeade much earlier. _Enjoy myself?? With James?? Maybe. I rather go with you two if you haven't gotten a date. We had agreed to go together last time._

"Are you ready??"

"James??"

"Yeah!! Better hurry up before the carriages left without us."

"Alright. Coming out." Lily grabbed her purse and got out of the girls' dormitory as fast as possible.

"What's taking you??" James asked.

"If you don't like to wait, you don't have to go with me."

"But I want to go with you."

"Cut that off."  
  


"Cut what off??"

"Oh, never mind. Let's go." Lily and James brisk walked towards the awaiting carriages to take them to Hogsmeade. _Why am I feeling so tensed up?? _ James was trying to make conversation throughout the entire carriage ride while Lily was looking out of the window, giving short replies. _Why am I thinking?? Excited to go with James?? Let the whole world know I've got a crush on him?? Nah!!_

"Where do you want to go first??" James asked again.

"Anything." Lily was too busy looking around to be bothered with James. Unlike James, this was only her second time here.

"Let's go to Zonkos first??"

"Okie." Lily followed James closely. James was walking relatively fast and Lily was having a rather hard time following since the whole village was filled with Hogwarts students. She did not want to get lost in a totally foreign place and James seemed to know the village inside out. Lily thought of getting some for herself but decided not to in the end. If she wanted to prank the guys, she should not buy the supplies in front of the target. After James got his prankster's supply, they started strolling around the village. 

"Can we go Honeydukes??" Lily asked; she had a sudden craving of chocolate frogs.

"Sure." James replied. _What's wrong with her??_

"You lead the way." Lily said. Hogsmeade, in her opinion, was far too big. She had barely digested the direction from the carriage drop-off point to Zonkos. _I'll take ages to get familiarize with this place._

Lily grabbed some Chocolate Frogs, Chocoballs from the shelves while James got himself some Exploding Bonbons and Fudge Flies. They headed towards the cashier to pay for their stuff.

"For both." James said as he handed several galleons to the cashier.

"I don't need you to pay for me."

"I'm just being a gentleman."

"I don't need you to be a gentleman."

"Excuse me, next please." The cashier told Lily and James impatiently. It was rather packed in Honeydukes. They gotten out of the queue and somehow gotten shoved to the back of the shop.

"I return you the galleons."

"No need for that."  
  


"No, I insist."

"I don't want."  
  


"Aahhhh!!" Lily cried out as she felt backwards and landed on her butt. Her bag of Chocolate Frogs and Chocoballs flew all over the place.

"Be more careful next time." James said and tried to help her up. Then they started picking up the scattered chocolates.

"I tripped."

"Tripped??" James asked and started touching the ground, looking for something that could be sprouting up.

"Hey, what's that??" Lily asked, studying the small dent on the floorboard.

"It could be a trap door!!" James whispered excitedly.

"It can't be opened." Lily said as she tried to pull the floorboard upwards.

"I think it might be those crates, I shift them away first." James started pushing some crates with the label 'Ice Mice'.

"Look, there's a small gap." Lily exclaimed. She had used a lot of effort to pull up the floorboard but let go again because it was too heavy.

"I think it's that crate over there, I go push that away." Lily and James were clearing the space by pushing the crates away from the trapdoor.

"What are you two doing??" The voice of the Honeydukes shopkeeper asked.

"We were separating our sweets and we're finding the card of Nicholas Flamel which we dropped from our Chocolate frog." James replied smoothly.

"Ok, don't take too long and don't try anything stupid."

"Thank you, sir." Lily smiled sweetly at the shopkeeper and he turned back out to the crowded shop. The two quickly grabbed all the dropped sweets and kept them in the pockets.

"Can you charm the trapdoor so nothing can be placed upon it?? Like making it slippery or something??" James suggested, scanning the area.

Lily muttered a complicated sounding charm quickly. Lily knew more charms than all the other six added together. She enjoyed doing extra reading on charms that might come in handy but were not taught during lessons.

"Erm.. what did you do?? I don't see any difference." James pushed up his spectacles for a better look.

"You push a crate over and see??" James pushed a small crate over the trapdoor. The crate then slowly crawled back to its original position after five minutes, barely noticeable.

"That's brilliant!!" James said. "Let's go down." Lily and James lit their wands magically and walked down the steps. They closed the trapdoor silently and started walking forward.

"Harlow." James said and an echo of 'harlows' bounced back. The two of them walked very slowly on the slightly uneven grounds.

"Looks like there's only one direction we can head." Lily said as she pointed at the pitch-black end of the tunnel.

"Let's go then." They walked rather slowly, looking at all directions for any traces of movement.

"Looks like a long tunnel."

"I wonder what's at the end of it."

"Aah.. There're some spiders." Lily jumped backwards in a fright as a spider the size of her thumb dangled in front of her so suddenly.

"They're _only_ spiders."

"That was a _huge_ spider."

"Whatever, I think I saw the end of the tunnel." James said, pointing at a rather rounded wall.

"Let's take a closer look. Maybe it's an exit."

"Maybe it's an exit to the Forbidden Forest." James said, grinning at the thought of exploring the forbidden grounds.

"I rather not. The books say the Forbidden Forest have a lot of monsters and rare creatures."

"I want to see the centaurs. I've heard about them."

"I don't fancy seeing any monsters."

"Chicken."

"I'm not."

"Coward."

"Shut up."

"Dare you open the exit??"

"Why not??" Lily said bravely. She tried pushing the wall all over and even muttered the door-unlocking spell. The door did not budge. _Please don't let it be the Forbidden Forest._

"Can you do it??" James asked impatiently.

"Wait." Lily said, looking closely for any trace of opening.

"Let me do it. Girls are so weak."

"I'm not!!"

"Not a girl??"

"Not weak!!"

"Hey look at this." James said, holding his lighted wand to a very small engraving on the one side of the wall.

"D-I-S-S-E-N-D-I-U-M. It could be a charm to open the door." James moved away and Lily muttered the spell pointing at the word. Suddenly the wall sprang open to form a small opening. Both of them peeked to take a look what was outside. Suddenly they heard a meowing sound and saw Filch carry his cat in a distant. They shut the door immediately.

"Tell me that was Filch and Mrs. Norris." Lily said breathlessly.

"It was."

"Does that mean that we're in Hogwarts??"

"I think so."

"Oh my gosh. There's a tunnel leading from Hogwarts to Hogsmeade." Lily was amazed at the discovery.

"Now we can go Hogsmeade anytime we want." James said grinning at Lily.

"I don't think anyone else know about this tunnel." Lily said and looked back at the long stretch of dark pathway ahead. The tunnel was rather dusty and filled with cobwebs and spiders.

"Let's clear the tunnel while waiting for Filch to leave." Both of them started muttering spells to get rid of the spider webs and dust in the long tunnel. With ten minutes, the tunnel looked spider-free, but was still slightly dusty.

"I think it should be safe now." Lily muttered 'dissendium' and the wall sprang open once again. Both of them peeked out and looked left and right at the long corridor.

"Let's go." They crawled out of the door and shut it behind them. Then they made a dash up to the Gryffindor tower at record time.

"How did you know the way so well?" Lily asked, panting. They climbed into the common room where some first-years, second-years and sixth-years were hanging out. Both of them settled themselves at one isolated corner in the common room.

"We explore school grounds all the time, you see." James boasted.

"But still.. Anyway where was that place??"

"Third floor corridor at that hunched back statue."

"You even had time to digest all that??"

"Well, I'm James the great one. What do you expect??"

"I don't believe you."

"Ok, ok. We had explored that place before over the last two years. I know I had been there. Not many people walk pass that area anyway."

"Hmm.. The idea of going Hogsmeade anytime I want sounds good. I gotta tell Bell and Stef once they get back." Lily smiled and lay back on the armchair. _What a day. Well, I did have fun with James actually._

_Hmm.. _James looked over at Lily who had closed her eyes and resting on the armchair. _She looked so peaceful and angelic. Idiot. What am I thinking of?? She's my friend!!_

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"How was your date with James??" Arabella skipped into their dormitory, seeing Lily being the only person inside.

"That was not a date."

"They what do you call when a boy ask a girl to go out and they go out together."

"A meeting."

"Cut that off. Look at me, Lils." Lily put down her _Charms Encyclopedia_ and looked at Arabella.

"Yes, my _dear_?"

"Something happened between you two."

"Yes, something happened."

"Tell me quick."

"We found a tunnel in Hogwarts leading to Honeydukes in Hogsmeade." Lily said in a nonchalant manner.

"What?!?" Arabella was rather stunned to hear it. So Lily started telling Arabella the story when Stefanie walked into the room.

"How were your dates??" Stefanie asked, walking towards the two girls who were on Lily's bed.

"I had a discovery." Lily said simply, her emerald green eyes sparkling.

"Tell me all about it!!" Stefanie said excitedly as the three girls huddled at Lily's bed listening to the whole story on the discovery of the tunnel.

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"This is brilliant!!" Sirus exclaimed after hearing James telling about the discovery of the tunnel.

"We can go as and when we like." James said, grinning.

"Who else know about that??" Remus asked.

"Lily and I, and now you guys. I believe she told Bell and Stef as well."

"Ok, only six of us know about this then. How about Peter??" Remus asked James.

"We can tell him, he can be trusted. Anyway where is he?? Didn't see him at Hogsmeade." Sirus asked. _He seems trustworthy but why did I have this bad feeling about him?? James and Remus seems to trust him totally._

"I don't know. We all are at Hogsmeade today, but we didn't get to see each other." James said reasonably, and he started polishing his spectacles.

"You were at some dark tunnel with Lily alone. How can we _see_ you??" Sirus asked cheekily.

"That was a coincidence. I shouldn't have told you then." James chased after Sirus attempting to hit him with a pillow around the dormitory.

"Calm down, calm down." Sirus yelled.

"How can I??"

"We need to do some reading on Animagus before going to bed. It had been a year and we're not making any progress." Sirus was good at changing topic at critical timing as he ducked from James' pillow..

"Alright, let's hit the books." James sighed and sat down and grabbed _The Dos and Don'ts For Animagi Transformation._

"And we'll hit the tunnel soon." Remus suggested and the three guys exchanged the let's-do-something-daring grins before burying themselves in thick library books. _I'm really glad I know James and Sirus._


	26. Escapade

**Chapter 25: Escapade**

"Better hurry if you want to reach Three Broomsticks soon." James commented as the septet was walking rather slowly through the tunnel towards Honeydukes.

"It's barely noon. We can be there for the whole afternoon." Lily replied, fiddling with her lit wand.

"Who was the one who wanted to go there in the first place??" James said sarcastically in front of the group, while most of them were leisurely walking in the tunnel with their wands magically lit up.

"We did." Arabella and Stefanie shouted from the back. The two girls were having some small talk behind the whole group. For some reason, they did not want Lily to join in this particular conversation. 

"Don't say I never remind you. The shopkeeper have the tendency to go to the store to get more stock at noon." James said airily.

"Oh ya. I almost forgot." Sirus exclaimed as he turned around to the back of the group and hurried all of them from a stroll to a brisk walk to a slow jog. The seven of them had gone to Hogsmeade via the tunnel a week after James and Lily's discovery. They could barely wait. On that Saturday morning, the seven kids had hurried to Hogsmeade at nine in the morning before most of the shops were opened. They were supposed to be back before lunchtime but the shopkeeper at Honeydukes had been going in and out of the store to restock his goods. The seven of them tried to sneak pass him again and again but failed. In the end they had to walk all the way back from Hogsmeade to Hogwarts, which took them more than an hour. They only managed to return by dinnertime. The only blessing was that no one noticed that they had went missing for six hours and were not caught for that rendezvous.

"No sound of footsteps." James whispered to the group behind as he pressed his ear hard to detect for any sign of movement above them in the cellar.__

"Let me charm it to be transparent temporary." Lily suggested as she moved forwards to climb up the small flight of steps.

"I don't think that's a good idea. I don't think the shopkeeper even know this tunnel existed." Remus added suggestively.

"I mean we can look up from here but they can't look down from there. It's works like a two way mirror." Lily explained.

"What's a two way mirror anyway??" Sirus asked Lily. The mirrors in the wizarding world were one sided and most had a brain of their own.

"That's a great idea. Why don't you make it permanent then?? Save me from doing all the hearing and checking out." James recommended.

"We don't know the charm for it. At least, we haven't found it yet." Arabella told the guys.

 "We went to check out in the library last week. They only had a charm which can last for a day, at most." Lily further explained to the guys as she pointed the wand at the exit and muttered the charm softly.

"Tell me that charm. We can do something useful out of it." James asked Lily. _I can use this charm on the Slytherins' bathroom and the girls' toilet. This is going to be fun. Haha._

"I think better not. Don't think we don't know what the guys want them for." Lily replied slyly. _If they don't use it in the Slytherins' bathroom, it's gonna be the girls' bathroom._

"What could we use them for besides here??" Sirus replied innocently. _This charm is going to come in handy._

"Cut the crap, Sirus. If they get fooled, I don't." Stefanie commented on Sirus' faked innocent face that she knew it too well.

"The coast is clear. Let's moved as quickly as possible." James instructed as he checked the transparent door for any sign of movement or shadows.

"Invisible time. Be careful." Lily said as she muttered the charm and all of them got invisible. James opened the trapdoor and he was the first to climb out. Lily followed closely behind while the rest climbed up after them.

"Ouch, my leg."

"Oops. Sorry."

"Ssshhh."

"Keep a lookout."

"Who's behind me??"

"Me."

"Not so fast."  
  


"Ouch."  
  


"Who tripped??"

"Sorry. I'm fine."

"Meet outside at the right side of the entrance so Lily can charm us back." James said quietly after the trapdoor was shut permanently.

"Did you just say I'm charming??" Lily joked and kept a lookout of the Honeydukes owner.

"Yeah, right." James said as he made the yucking sound and left the cellar. _Wah, so crowded. How am I going to get out of here without getting bumped?? Dungbomb!! Heehee. Luckily I brought one along just in case._ James set the dungbomb off and the crowd cleared tremendously. The shopkeeper had a panicky look on his face and was trying to find the culprit while he tried to clear up the mess. James walked out of the shop without much hassle. He walked straight to the exit and turn right.

"Ouch."

"Lily??"

"Yes."

"Hey guys."

"Here."

"Ditto."

"Let's move to that corner." Lily said as the crowd was coming closer to the invisible seven.

"Ok."

"I'm going to reappear now." Lily said, her wand pointing at herself and she muttered the spell. Lily reappeared in seconds. "Ok, I can't see you but you all can see me. So just stand at where my wand is pointing."

Footsteps and muffling sounds were heard. Several "ouch" and "sorry" could be heard from nowhere as well. Lily muttered the charm and all of them reappeared.

"Seriously we can do the charm ourselves, you know. Then we can save all these hassle." James said confidently.

"We're not supposed to learn this charm yet in case you guys haven't realized that." Lily said, smiling. This invisibility and re-invisibility charm was one of the hardest charms Lily had ever done. It was supposed to be in the sixth or seventh year syllabus. But they had to learn it because they needed to use it. The septet had done research on invisibility for over a month and this was the closest they could get for instant invisibility and revisibility without the use of any complicated potions. All of them had practiced this charm on their quills but unfortunately Lily was the only one who mastered the charm skillfully.

James had gotten his quill into part invisible and part visible state after many trials. Currently James had been using that 'self-designed' quill because it was his 'art piece'.

Sirus gotten his quill invisible and apparently it had disappeared for good and never found again. He had lost ten quills altogether and no one dared to let him perform the invisibility charm.

Remus only managed to make his quill half invisible at anytime. It just could not get to total invisibility no matter how hard he tried.

Peter was the worst. His quill never had gotten invisible. Even Lily could not tell what went wrong in the charm. Peter, obviously, had acted stupid. He could do the charm very well in fact.

Arabella was better; she managed to make her quill look translucent. Her charmed quill looked ghost-like, as it was see-through but yet not invisible.

Stefanie managed to do the charm successfully, but could only charm one quill at a time, which was too time-consuming because the charm was relatively long.

"Hi Madam Rosmerta." The septet chorused at the moment they enter the Three Broomsticks. Madam Rosmerta was serving a table near the entrance.

"Ahh, my dears." Madam Rosmerta walked over after attending to the couple at a nearby table. "It's wonderful to see you again so soon."

"We miss you wonderful butterbeers. I can't wait till the age when I can drink the alcoholic butterbeers." James said, flashing his charming smile to Madam Rosmerta. They were heading towards their usual corner, which was arranged to fit eight people. They had came as often as once every fortnight until they had gotten to know Madam Rosmerta, the daughter of the owner of Three Broomsticks.

"Well, three more years I promise, Seerus." Madam Rosmerta promised as she made short conversations with the group. Luckily it was not too crowded that day. Perhaps it was lunchtime whereby most people would not be hanging out at The Three Broomsticks.

"I'm James." The group started laughing. Madam Rosmerta had problems remembering their names. She had often mixed up James and Sirus because they had looked rather identical in most ways.

"And I'm Sirus, and not Seerus." Sirus smiled. Sirus had too many nicknames given by everyone that he had lost track over the years.

"Ahh.. I'm getting old." Madam Rosmerta was in her twenties but she looked older than her actual age. She often said that it was the job that made her haggard, but she had truly loved working there.

"Madam Rosmerta, you're not old. And I'm sure in three years down. You'll know all our names by then." Lily said kindly as she moved inwards to the last sit in the corner.

"Thanks Eilee." Madam Rosmerta said, eyes sparkling. Lily had often thought Madam Rosmerta would make a great mother in the future.

"I'm Lily." She corrected Madam Rosmerta. And both of them laughed. She turned back to the counter and to get the butterbeers. The seven of them usually ordered butterbeers when they visit Hogsmeade illegally. During authorized visits, they usually ordered ice creams and other deserts.

"Oh no." Stefanie hissed to the rest of the group and pointed at the entrance of Three Broomsticks.  
  


"Uh oh."

"Oh Merlin."

"Shucks."

"We need to hide." James said quickly, knowing jolly well that there was no place that could hide all of them.

"But how? It's quite obvious that there're people sitting around here. Let's hope that they're not sitting too close." Lily whispered. The group huddled closer to one another with their backs facing out.

"We must tell Madam Rosmerta not to let them know we're here." Remus said, he gotten out from his seat and headed towards the counter. Stefanie followed him to find Madam Rosmerta.

"Luckily we're not wearing our uniform." Arabella added quietly. The seven of them decided to dress something closer to muggle wear since uniform was not required in the weekends. They wore plain clothing whenever they come Hogsmeade illegally so no one could recognize and report them. They did not even wear the black Hogwarts cloak but their own cloaks.

"They're sitting at the table not too far from us." Sirus said as he tried to take a peek behind the decorated Christmas tree. The customers had settled themselves at a corner of the café behind the fully decorated tree.

"Thank god that the tree is blocking us totally." Lily said as she calmed down. They could get expelled for coming to Hogsmeade unauthorized.

"Let's try to hear what they're talking about."

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"Minerva, do you believe in the story of the Supreme Seven??" Albus Dumbledore asked his companion. They were sitting at the corner of Three Broomsticks, rather far from majority of the crowd.

"I think that's just a story for children." Minerva McGonagall replied flatly.

"What if there're indeed seven people born with such powers??"

"What do you mean??"

"Do you remember the powers of each of them??"

"Kind of." Minerva started to think about the story she had heard many years ago when she was younger. It was just a childhood story.

"I didn't believe it initially as well."

"You mean someone had displayed their powers??"

"Yes."

"Who??"  
  


"James Potter and group."

"You're kidding me." Minerva said in disbelief. _How could such intolerable pranksters be part of the world's saviors!! This is absurd._

"I'm serious."

"So our main discussion here today is about them??"

"Yes."

"No wonder you did not want to discuss in school grounds."

"People might hear. This is a rather top secret as I promised them I wouldn't tell a soul. The situation had gotten serious."

"You don't mean Voldemort, do you??"

"Yes, that's him alright. The rising Dark Wizard."

"They're sent down to deal with him??"

"Yes. I think so."

"But they're only thirteen. Voldemort is like thirty!!"

"There's another problem as well."

"What is it??"

"The seventh supreme hasn't appeared."

"Which one is he??"

"The animal communicator."

"Tom Riddle was a parselmouth."

"How did you know??"

"His pet in school used to be a serpent. I had seen him talking to his snake in parseltongue."

"Why didn't you tell me earlier??"

"That's partially got to do with Porky. They were friends. Long story." Minerva's tone of voice changed a little at the mention of Professor Porky.

"I remembered that. I taught Defense of Dark Arts back then."

"Anyway, if Tom was a parselmouth. He could be the seventh person."

"That's not impossible either. The heir of Salazar Slytherin should be able a parselmouth."

"Could it be that the six of them are sent down to deal with the seventh one??"

"I've thought about that. But it did not strike me that Voldemort could be the seventh savior that I had been waiting for all these while."

"We need to start training the six of them."

"Yes. In fact we've to start it soon. And that'll take place in my office."

"What about Peter Pettigrew??"

"He mustn't know even that all his friends were part of the seven saviors. We had to perform a strong memory charm on him if he sees or hear anything."

"This is not a good sign." There was silence for a few minutes.

"There're seven items that is required to get rid of the evil." Albus spoke up suddenly.

"It's not easy to obtain them. Common items, but we don't know which is the right one."

"I understand what you mean. I think there's nothing we could do besides preparing them to take Voldemort."

"I agree. We better head back to Hogwarts." With that, Albus and Minerva slipped their butterbeers and left the Three Broomsticks.

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The seven of them had heard the whole conversation, looked at one another, with an astounded expression on them. They were too shaken to hear the news. Peter looked rather downcast, as he was not part of the group. Finally James spoke.

"Peter, we'll always be your friends no matter what. But we had to perform the memory charm on you later. I'm sorry." James turned to Peter who looked rather saddened. _I really didn't expect Peter to know it in this manner._

"Thanks." Peter muttered barely audible. _This is great. I've to pretend I forget everything after they cast the memory charm on me. It's hard to be pretending all the while. All these people are so wonderful and considered me as their friend, why did Master want to get rid of them so desperately??_

"We had heard what we're not supposed to know yet." Lily said softly, still having a bewildered expression on her.

"When Dumbledore and McGonagall talk to us about it later, we've to pretend that we don't know anything." James said rather seriously.

"I think we better head back to Hogwarts, I'm afraid they might start finding us once they're back." Lily said as she quickly sipped her remaining butterbeer. The rest drank all their butterbeers in silence. Lily got up to tell Madam Rosetta that they were leaving and begged her not to tell anyone that they were here today.

The septet walked towards Honeydukes in a sense of calmness. Their footsteps were rather heavy. Afterall, the news was too terrible for the seven thirteen-year-olds.

Honeydukes was rather crowded by the time they arrived. They seeped through all the adults and reached the end of the shop. The shopkeeper, now busy collecting money, did not noticed them walking past him.

"Si and Rem first, followed by Lils, Bell, Stef. Pete and myself go in last." James instructed softly. They lined up and Lily muttered the invisibility spell. No words were needed as each of them had a lot in their mind.

All of them went down the stairs in silence. James being the last checked the cellar and closed the trapdoor. Lily muttered the visibility spell and all of them reappeared suddenly.

"We better run back as soon as possible." Lily said and all of them started running in the long empty tunnel.

Within five minutes, they reached the end.

"Dissendium." Sirus said and the door sprang open. Remus and Sirus peeked out to make sure the coast was clear.

"Oh no." Remus closed the door quickly.

"What happened??" Stefanie whispered, sensing the panic.

"Malfoy and his cronies are at the end of the corridor. They appeared to be having a small discussion." Sirus whispered in a sense of urgency.

"It'll be obvious if we pop up so suddenly." Arabella pointed out, feeling rather nervous.

"I've got a suggestion." Lily said suddenly.

"I've got a suggestion." James said at the same time.

"You first." Both of them said together. The group started giggling and a blush crept up on them. Luckily the tunnel was dark and the magical blue lights were not strong enough to make it too noticeable.

"Pete, I've to cast the memory charm on you. I'm sorry." Lily said and she muttered 'obliviate'.

"I think Lils can charm us invisible and we run out to snow. It'll be really cold and wet for us even in our cloaks. If McGonagall wants to find us, I'm sure she'll be checking the Gryffindor tower first." James whispered to the group. They listened to James' plan in silence. Afterall, there was no other way.

"That's what I was thinking as well. Excuses are not a problem here." Lily said. "Ready to go invisible. Same sequence. Just rush towards the Entrance Hall and stand beside the statue on the right." She muttered the invisibility spell on them. They climbed out of the door and broke into a soft run.

James turned back to check Malfoy and his gang. They were running very softly but at the silent corridor, a pin drop could even be heard. Malfoy had turned at looked at the sound but did not see anyone. They stopped their discussion and left the corridor abruptly at the opposite direction. _I wonder what could they be discussing here. It's not the safest place in Hogwarts for a secret discussion._

Lily walked out and started rushing towards the Entrance Hall. She turned to check what Malfoy and his idiots were doing but saw them walking away quickly in the opposite direction. She shrugged it off and dashed towards the Entrance Hall as quickly as possible. She was not a consistent runner and did not have much stamina for running. Finally she reached the Entrance Hall and started walking.

"Hey"

"Who's here??"

"Coast clear."

"Filch and Mrs. Norris not around right??"

"I was here for five minutes. No sign of anyone."

"Can Lils hurry?? It's cold here."

"I must make myself visible first." Lily pointed the wand at herself and muttered the visibility charm. She reappeared. "Stand where my wand is pointing." She muttered the visibility charm.

"All present." James said. "Let's get out and get some rain on ourselves. The excuses if McGonagall ask is that we had a dare to see who can endure the longest in the rain in just our cloak and casual wear."

"Ditto. Let's hurry." Sirus commanded and all the seven of them rushed out into the heavy downpour. Thunder was roaring and lightning was flashing across the dark sky. It barely looked like it was afternoon. The weather had portrayed their mood totally.

James threw a small twig at Lily. Lily returned it with a larger twig. Within minutes, a leafy fight started out between the fully drenched boys and girls. There was a rather strong wind, which could be mistaken as a blizzard. Sirus was the worst because James and Remus had pinned him down and stuffed fallen leaves into his shirt. They were enjoying themselves and forgot all about the time and coldness.

"What do you think you're doing??" A voice barked from the Entrance Hall.


	27. The Important News

**Chapter 26: The Important News**

"Uh oh." Lily stopped suddenly and turned to check out the owner of the voice. Even in the heavy downpour, his voice could be heard rather clearly. It was impossible that he could magnify his voice magically, so it must be due to all the shouting at the students over the years.

"Filch." James smiled when he saw the person at the Entrance Hall, looking wet and angry. Even though his spectacles were wet with raindrops, he could recognize that figure anywhere. Afterall, at least a quarter of his detentions in the last few years were assigned by the school caretaker. Another quarter was by Professor McGonagall for all his major pranks in the Great Hall and her Transfiguration lesson. The third quarter was by Professor Porky, who had a great hatred for all Gryffindors. The final quarter was made up from various professors for his misbehavior during their lessons.

"Caught. For a moment, I thought it was McGonagall whose voice had broken like mine." Sirus grinned mischievously, partly at his joke and partially at the thought of more detentions coming up. Argus Filch had never been lenient in detentions assignments. In the last few months, Sirus' and James' voice had just begun to break and Remus' voice sounded the lowest and deepest among the four guys. 

"At least three more for my list." James exclaimed. The Marauders already had a drawer all for themselves in Filch's office. They had so many detentions that Filch had dedicated a drawer especially for the Marauders by the end of their second year. They had joked that by their seventh year, they would each be bestowed with a drawer in his office.

"Confirm detention." Arabella said as she wrinkled her nose at Filch in disgust. He hated the students for some unknown reason. Arabella had been sent to clean the Potions classroom for her detention by Filch last year, which she ended up having more from Professor Porky for not cleaning the classroom properly. She had disliked Filch ever since which was normal because most students did not like the grouchy school caretaker.

"We better go." Lily said as they walked unwillingly towards the Entrance Hall. Peter followed closely behind all of them, head bowed. He was not as brave as Gryffindors were supposed to be. The six had walked back with the head held high, as if detentions meant nothing to them at all.

"What are you thinking of to be outdoor at a temperature of twelve degrees?? Get frozen to death or down with a high fever?? Do you want to spend a week at the hospital wing??" Filch yelled at the seven shivering students. "Come with me to my office and I'll make sure all of you get a week of detention for breaking this rule." Filch led the group towards his office. "Look at the mess, I need to clean the wet floor after this!!" Filch shouted at them. They were quivering in cold even though it was relatively warm inside the castle.

"There was no rule saying that we can't be outdoors today. Besides that was just a downpour. You can dry us before taking us in so you can save the trouble of cleaning the wet floor." James pointed out defiantly.

"Another week of detention for you, Potter." Filch said, spattering saliva over their heads as he talked. The seven cringed in disgust. Filch had always been disgustingly unhygienic.

"Argus, Dumbledore wants to see them." Professor McGonagall walked over towards them from the opposite end of the corridor and saved them from their detentions. The four guys actually looked rather disappointed that they escaped detentions while the girls heaved a sign of relief.

"Let me assign them detentions first. They were outdoors playing in a weather like this." Filch argued. He did not want to let any students off without a week of detention. Otherwise how could he maintain the cleanliness of so many rooms with just him and the house-elves alone? The castle was just too big to be cleaned.

"It's rather urgent, Argus. I'll make sure they get their deserved detentions." Professor McGonagall said sternly at the group of trembling students. They were shaky partially because of the cold and also fearing what was unveiling before them. Filch looked dissatisfied but he left anyway swearing away.

"The six of you have to go Dumbledore's office immediately." Professor McGonagall instructed. She pointed her wand at Peter muttered 'oblivate'. "Peter, you've to go back to the Gryffindor tower now. Do you understand me??" She said a drying spell and all of them were dried instantly. Peter gave a confused look and but followed Professor McGonagall's instruction and walked towards the Gryffindor tower. "The rest of you follow me."

"Can we eat first??" James said suddenly. His stomach was growling in hunger. They had forgotten all about their lunch. Another reason was that James wanted to delay time.

"We've something important to tell the six of you. I spent the last hour looking for you in the castle and there you are, outdoor in such a cold and wet weather. I really don't understand kids nowadays." Professor McGonagall started lecturing them about misbehaving and not knowing how to take care of their health, as they walked briefly towards the gargoyle.

The six of them shared a similar apprehensive expression for they already knew what Dumbledore wanted to see them for. They shared a knowing eye contact but remain unspoken as McGonagall continued talking about the weather.

Peter had given a rather hazy look as he walked back towards Gryffindor tower although he knew clearly what was happening.

33333333333333333333

"We need the six of you to start practicing your powers as soon as possible." Dumbledore said with a sense of urgency. He had just told the entire story of what he knew to the six of them. _I'm afraid you all might have to fill up the unsolved puzzle. I would have asked Sybil about that if not for the fact that this was highly secretive._

"So the seventh savior is Tom Marvolo Riddle, who graduated from Hogwarts more than ten years ago??" James asked again. He knew all these, but he had no choice but to act bewildered. He was neither calm nor composed about knowing what his future held for him. But he had to hide his fears. He had been taught this way.

"Yes, James. He's now known as Lord Voldemort. I believe the six of you were sent here to defeat him." Dumbledore repeated patiently. _This is going to be a tough one._

"There're seven things needed to defeat the great evil according to the story." Lily asked, rather timidly. After she heard the conversation between Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall, she was horrified. Now, the terror and fear had not left her any more than earlier. She wiped her clammy hands on her cloak again.

"We're unsure of that as well. I hope the six of you can help to solve the riddle." Professor McGonagall said with a sigh. Tom Riddle had been a wonderful student back when he was in Hogwarts and now he had turned evil.

"But we've no idea of that as well." James said boldly. Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall remained silent as his comment because they too, did not had any more idea than the six. Both Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall shared a similar serious expression.

"So, I think the six of you should start practicing your special powers as soon as possible. Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday in my office after dinner. Starting from the coming Monday." Dumbledore spoke up after five minutes of silence. The six thirteen-year-olds were fidgeting a little, uncomfortable at the deafening silence.

"James, Sirus and Remus, you'll be excuse from the Wednesdays training for Quidditch. I'll inform Leo about that." Professor McGonagall said grimly. The six of them shared the similar worried expression. The idea of fighting a dark lord at the age of thirteen seemed totally unfeasible.

33333333333333333333

"This is not looking good." Lily spoke up suddenly. They had left Dumbledore's office a while ago and walked back to Gryffindor tower in silence. They did not know what to say either. So remaining silent was the best option. _This silence is deafening!!_

"I'm sure this Voldemort is not that powerful." James comforted the group. _I myself am not sure of that. My gut feeling tell me that this is not a good sign._

"If he's that easily defeated, Dumbledore wouldn't look so worried." Lily pointed out. _The look on Dumbledore's face was inapprehensive._

"We can do it. We've to. It's our duty here." Remus said wearily, after a long eventful day. The full moon was two days ago and he was still recovering from his transformation.  
  


"I hope we can do it. I've a bad feeling about this." Arabella said. _I've this instinct that tell me we're going to fail. Was it part of my dream or something?? This is really not looking good._

"With the power of six, we're gonna be invincible!!" Sirus exclaimed with faked cheerfulness. _The atmosphere is so tensed. I don't feel good with this._

"We need to try our best." Lily said, deep in thoughts. _I thought the Supreme Sevens must be born into pureblood families?? I'm muggle born. Bell's family history is unknown. But she could jolly well be a pureblood witch. But me??_

"Earth to Lily??" James waved in front of Lily.

"Are you alright??" Arabella asked, concerned at the pale look Lily's face.

"I'm fine. Just thinking."

"About what?? Care to share??"

"All of you are pureblood witch and wizards. But me?? A muggle-born?? How could I have such power??"

"I could be a muggle-born as well. Afterall, I grew up in a muggle orphanage." Arabella said, trying to comfort Lily. _I really want to know who're my parents. I can't visualize their faces at all. Sometimes I really envy them with such fantastic parents._

"I don't think so. I've heard of the Figg name being seers before." Sirus said, not sounding very helpful.

"Could it be a mistake??" James asked Lily. _She got a point too. We're all pure blood wizards actually._

"I don't know. I inherited my mother's eyes and my father's hair colour though."

"I've seen your parents. You definitely looked like their daughter. The resemblance was very obvious."

"I think perhaps your grandparents or relatives are witches or wizards."

"But you all are pureblood witches and wizards. Right to your parents."

"Tom Riddle isn't."

"Well, that's true." Lily said, a little convinced at that fact. They climbed into the portrait hole and went to their separate dormitories to change for dinner.

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_How could I've the gift of healing?? I remember reading from those books on the Supreme Seven that they're all pureblood. Tom Riddle is not?? This is strange. Because it just doesn't sound possible. Maybe it's to conceal the fact that he had the unusual power?? It's not so suspecting to be half-blood. People who are in Slytherins are all pureblood. How could Tom Riddle or Voldemort be half-blood and be in Slytherin. This is strange._

"Lily!!" Arabella waved in front of a daze-looking Lily who was sitting rather still on the edge of her bed. She had sat there for an hour ever since she gotten out from the shower after their dinner. They were too traumatized to enjoy their dinner that day.

"Huh?? What??" Lily asked, confused as Arabella's actions.

"What happened to you??" Stefanie asked, concerned about her best friend.

"Nothing."

"We've our mean to find out. Do you want to tell us yourself or want us to invade your thoughts??" Arabella asked in the jokingly but threatening manner.

"It's about me being part of, you know. I'm a muggle-born. It just doesn't sound possible."  
  


"You suspect your identity??"

"A little."

"We can ask Dumbledore about that. I'm sure it's nothing great. Perhaps your aunt or grandparents were witches. But well, your parents could be squibs??" Stefanie suggested helpfully.

"I don't know."

"We better get some sleep. We might not be getting enough sleep soon." Arabella said as she climbed to her bed. _I really want to know where I'm from as much as I want to find out about Lily's muggle-born identity as well. But how can I check that out??_

"Thanks Bell and Stef. I'm ok. Anyway it's getting late. Good night." Lily said. _I still have doubts. How can I check it out?? Dumbledore?? Library?? I really don't know. _Lily tossed and turned around in the bed, having trouble sleeping.


	28. Practice Makes Perfect

**Chapter 27:Practice Makes Perfect**

"Our first practice today." Lily said tiredly as she helped herself with the seconding helping of cream of chicken soup.

"Yeah. Just now Potions was enough to kill." James complained, munching his fish and chips hungrily. They had to make a complicated truth potion but not as strong as veritaserum. The Marauders thought it was funny to splash some onto Professor Porky. James and Sirus pretended to push around and hit onto Severus who fell forward and pushed his cauldron over. In the end, Professor Porky made them stayed for extra half an hour longer to tell them some truth about himself. He only released them after the class rolled on the floor with laughter. By the time he regained his consciousness in another ten minutes, the Marauders ended with a week detention without complains. The laughter in the truth for his class was worth it.

"What do you think we would be doing for our first practice??" Lily asked the group, looking around. Peter had joined them and today was James' turn to 'obliviate' him. _I wonder how can I endure the night._

"I think should be rather simple." James said; his mouth was rather filled with chewed fish and chips. _Just wait till I can do wandless magic. Heeheehee._

"I don't know. Let's eat quickly. We only have like thirty more minutes." Lily checked the time and told the rest. The group ate their dinners quickly in silence.

"Let's get going." James instructed as the six of them walked out of the Great Hall. James had just 'obliviate' Peter and asked him to return to Gryffindor tower first. The six of them had always felt bad about leaving Peter out from their discussions. None of them knew that Peter had never been 'obliviate' at all. He remembered all their discussions clearer than anyone else and reported them to his master every time when he was left alone.

"Sherbet lemon." Lily told to the gargoyle after all of them stood on the steps of Dumbledore's office entrance. They were allowed to know the password to his office in case of emergency. It had been an exhausting day for them but nevertheless they knew the importance of these practices.

"Come in." Dumbledore said before any one of them even knocked the door. James opened the door slowly and the sextet walked in. Dumbledore was always full of amazement.

"Hi Professors." The six chorused together. Professor McGonagall was there as well to overlook their practice. 

"What do you think of Fawkes??" Professor Dumbledore asked as he turned to face his new red phoenix that was standing on a new bird stand.

"It's a phoenix." Lily said, awed. _It was the same phoenix as I had seen the last time._

"I seen this phoenix in your office in the future before." Remus spoke up.

"That's right. It's a gift from someone. Fawkes had belonged to him for a few hundred years, and now he had given it to me." Professor Dumbledore said, lightening the mood in the room. "A phoenix is a very rare creature indeed." He took another look at Fawkes and turned back to them.

"Why did he give it to you since it's such a precious creature??" James asked curiously.

"We're old friends." Dumbledore said, in a finalized statement. "I understand that you had a full day of lessons. I've heard what you guys did in Potions." The Marauders grinned sheepishly. "Anyway, we shall start training each of you individually." Professor Dumbledore instructed each of them to their respective area for their practice.

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"Why am I sent to the hospital wing to help Madam Pomfrey??" Lily muttered to herself and walked quickly towards the infirmary alone. _Well, I've the gift of healing. Where else can I go to practice anyway??_

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"Alohomora." James pointed at the lock with his right hand and muttered. A green spark appeared at the tip of his index finger and the door opened instantly.

"Very good, James. You pick up very fast. But I believe that it's very tiring for you." Professor Dumbledore said kindly.

"I'll try my best, Professor." James said confidently and continued doing the simple spells with his hand. "Accio wand." His wand flew over from the table.

CCccRRRrraaassSSshhhH!!

"Be careful!!" Professor McGonagall yelled at Sirus. A pile of books had fallen over Professor McGonagall from the bookshelf. Sirus had been using his eyes to make things move about in the room. He was trying to insert some books into the empty area on the bookshelf above Professor McGonagall when he lost his concentration because James had made his wand flew across his face.

"Sorry Minnie." Sirus said sweetly as he bent down and tried to help Professor McGonagall up. Professor McGonagall, who was already irritated, looked at Sirus furiously after he called her Minnie.

"Back to practice!! Clear the pile of books!!" Professor McGonagall instructed in a weak tone and went towards the chair.

"AAaaaHHhhhHH!!" Professor McGonagall landed on the floor because the chair had moved automatically away from her and towards Stefanie.

"Oh no. I'm so sorry, Professor McGonagall." Stefanie apologized profusely. She was using her mind to move the chair over so she could sit. It was rather tired moving objects with her mind and hence, she instructed the chair behind her to move over the moment Professor McGonagall was about to sit.

"It's ok, Stefanie." Stefanie was helping Professor McGonagall up while James and Sirus was stifling a laugh.

"Are you alright, Professor??" Stefanie asked in a concerned manner. Professor McGonagall had been prone to all sorts of accident in the room ever since they started practicing. She was hit by several books horizontally and vertically, crashed onto the ground when the table she leaned on moved, and now she just gotten hit by more books and fell onto the ground once again.

"I'm fine. Go ahead and practice." Professor McGonagall said in a feeble manner. Being hit and had fallen so many times had made her weaker than ever. Stefanie resumed moving objects with her mind once she made sure Professor McGonagall had settled safely on a chair.

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Remus wondered around the empty corridors in Hogwarts. He had just traveled about twenty years down the road again. _I wonder will I meet that Harry Potter guy again._ _The place looked pretty much the same. I just head down to the kitchens and get some food while exploring._

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Arabella was sitting at a corner in the room, reading their thoughts and laughing to herself. The sight of the chaotic Dumbledore's office was funny enough even without reading their thoughts. She tried to get some premonitions but unsuccessful so she decided to read their minds instead.

_This is easy manz. Imagine next time I can prank the Slytherins without using my wand. Haha. I bet they won't know is me. Professor Porky will not have evidence against us either. Looks like I'm really gifted in wandless magic. _Professor McGonagall's wand, which had fallen when she fell down from the chair, had just flown into James' hand and she was demanding it back.

_What can I do to make more things crash on Minnie?? Books. Been there done that. Table and Chair. No use. Fawkes. Aha. I can make Fawkes fly around the room. Weird, why isn't it working?? Maybe it's not for living objects. Let me see. Aha, Minnie's wand. Hahaha. _Sirus stared at Professor McGonagall's wand and immediately it flew high above her and James. James grinned at Sirus and he winked at him. Professor McGonagall's wand dropped onto the floor the moment he lost the eye contact and she used that opportunity to seize it back and kept it safely in her pocket.

"Sirus, never ever lose concentration." Dumbledore instructed.

_Let me move that book. Done. The chair. Done. The table. Done. What else can I move?? Fawkes!! Yes. Argh. Why isn't he moving?? Move Fawkes Move. Hmm, maybe my brainpower can't be applied on living things. Let me move Bell. Heehee. That's right._

_Don't you dare!!_

_Bell??_

_Yes._

_How come you are in my thoughts??_

_I'm reading everyone's thoughts._

_Any nice gossips??_

_Nope._

_C'mon. I'm tired._

_Me too._

_Let me try to move you._

_No way!! I don't wanna be floating around the room. Besides if you do it, Sirus will do it to me too. He hasn't figured out why he couldn't move Fawkes yet._

_You already read his thoughts??_

_I'm reading everyone's._

_Okok. Back to practice._

_Yeah. _Arabella left Stefanie's thoughts. She moved on towards Dumbledore since Lily and Remus are not around to let her read theirs.

_They're working really well. By the way, Arabella, if you're reading my thoughts, please stop._

_How did you know I'm reading you thoughts, Professor??_

_It's your gift. Besides you're sitting there looking at each of us. _Professor Dumbledore gave Arabella a wink behind his half moon spectacles.

_Ok, I leave your thoughts then._

_Try to get some premonitions. We need that._

_I'll try my best, Professor. _With that, Arabella left Professor Dumbledore's thoughts and moved towards Professor McGonagall.

_I can't believe how unlucky I'm. Getting hit and fell so many times. More than I can ever think of in my whole life. I wonder if James and Sirus had done it on purpose. This is such a headache. No. The guys are such a headache!! This is only the first practice. And I have to suffer this three times a week?? Oh Merlin. I can die from all these torture!!_

Arabella giggled and moved back to Sirus' thoughts. _I shall not read so much into Professor McGonagall's thoughts. Otherwise I'll probably start laughing everytime I see her. Maybe I can try reading Fawkes thoughts. Afterall, I wonder how birds think._

_I'm more than just a bird, Miss Figg._

_What!! I'm talking to a phoenix in his thoughts??_

_Yes, that's what you're doing._

_How can you talk??_

_I can't talk like a human, I can think like a human._

_Oh my god. I don't believe that._

_That's why I said I'm more than just a bird. Miss Figg, it's not possible for you to read my thoughts anyway. Mr. Black and Miss Black had tried to control my movement but unsuccessful._

_I know._

_I know more than what you know but you just can't read my thoughts._

_Alright, I leave you thoughts for know. _Arabella looked at Fawkes and then looked at Sirus and started shaking her head. _I can't believe I just talk to a phoenix. Oh. My. God._

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"Hello!!" A voice said from behind.

"Hi Harry." Remus turned and was surprised to see him.

"You haven't told me your name the last time by the way." Harry said patiently.

"Jack. Nice to meet you." Remus said, smiling. _I can't possibly tell him I'm Remus. Who knows he probably know the real Remus._

"O-ok. Hi Jack." Harry said, unconvinced. He walked over intending to put his hand over Remus' shoulder. There was a kind of electric shock that went through them and both guys were flunked backwards. The sixteen-year-old Harry was sent backwards and hit one of the statue while the thirteen-year-old Remus hit the painting behind him.

"What happened??" Remus asked in a shock.

"I don't know. Are you alright, Jack??" Harry asked kindly as he picked himself up. It was obvious that his back was hurting a little.

"Sorry I've gotta go." Remus dashed away as quickly as possible in his hurting back. _I need to get back to Dumbledore's office now._ He concentrated and the next moment he returned to the present day Dumbledore's office and nearly was hit by a heavy flying book on his face.

"Remus, bend down." Stefanie shouted as she tried to move the book with her mind that Sirus was controlling away.

"Woah!! Remmy, be careful. You won't want to end up like Minnie." Sirus said in a joking manner and earned an angry glare from Professor McGonagall at the corner.

"What happened Remmy?? You're dashing in such a great hurry." James asked. Remus told the details of his last three hours in the future and his meeting with Harry Potter and about the electric current when he tried to touch him.

"I think it's because you're not supposed to be present there. You're like a vision, an illusion." Dumbledore said, thinking hard. "I think the reason why he can't touch you is because you're not real."

"Anyway it's nearing ten. I think you five better head back towards your dormitories and get some sleep. It had been a long day." Professor McGonagall said in a stern and tired tone.

"What about Lily??" James asked. The rest of the group turned to give him a why-are-you-so-concerned-about-Lily look.

"I've already told Madam Pomfrey to send her back to Gryffindor tower before ten." Dumbledore said smiling at James.

"Thank you, Professors." The five chorused and left Dumbledore's office.

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"You had a tiring day, Lily." Madam Pomfrey told Lily in a motherly manner.

"Yes." Lily said feebly. She had healed a first-year who fell and scratched himself rather badly, a second-year with an injured back, Jun Chang who sprained her ankle and a fourth-year with a twisted wrist, etc. Madam Pomfrey had to charm the students to a subconscious state before Lily can heal them supernaturally. Only three staff and the six of them knew about their confidential secret.

"You had done a great job today." Madam Pomfrey said encouragingly and gave Lily a mug of cold chocolate.

"Thank you. I probably should start heading back now." A tired Lily replied after she finished drinking.

"I see you at your next training."

"Good night, Madam Pomfrey. Thank you for all your help." Lily said gratefully and dragged her feet back to Gryffindor tower alone. _They're so lucky to be able to practice together. Whereas I'm stuck at the hospital wing all by myself._

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"Lily!!" Arabella and Stefanie shouted as they came into the empty dormitory. Samantha and Joey were in the common room studying. They did not want to disturb Lily, who looked like she needed some peace.

"Hey Bell, Stef." Lily said tiredly. She was resting in her bed waiting for Arabella and Stefanie to return from their practice, which felt like ages.

"Let's talk about what happened." Arabella said excitedly. She wanted to tell the two of them about the thoughts she came across for the guys as well as Fawkes, Dumbledore and McGonagall.

"Ok, make it quick. Healing people is really tiring. I'm drained." Lily muttered as both of them climbed onto Lily's bed. The three started talking eagerly about their practice and soon all three fell into a deep and dreamless sleep on Lily's bed.


	29. Quidditch Match

**Chapter 28: Quidditch Match**

"Here comes the famous Leo Jordon, Captain and Keeper for Gryffindor; Andrew Spinnet, Kenneth Bell and James Potter as Chasers; Sirius Black and Remus Lupin as Beaters and the gorgeous Angela Moody as Seeker." Daniel Thomas, a fifth year Gryffindor announced. He then continued with the Slytherin team with lesser enthusiasm.

"Mount your brooms, please" Madam Hooch said and gave a loud blast on her silver whistle.

Fifteen brooms from both teams rose up high, high into the air.

"The Quaffle is taken immediately by James Potter of Gryffindor – what an excellent Chaser the young boy is. And he's really belting along up there, a neat pass to Andrew Spinnet, who was only a reserve last year - back to Potter and no – Slytherin have taken the Quaffle, Slytherin captain Marty Flint gains the Quaffle and off he goes – Flint flying like a vulture up there – he's going to sco – no, stopped by an excellent move by Gryffindor Keeper Jordon and Gryffindor taken the Quaffle – that's Chaser Kenneth Bell of Gryffindor there, nice dive around Flint, off up the field and – OUCH – that must have hurt, hit in the back of the head by a Bludger – Quaffle taken by Slyterin – that's Andee Pucey speeding off towards the goalposts, but he's blocked by a second Bludger – sent his way by Sirius Black – nice play by the Gryffindor Beater, anyway, and Potter back in possession of the Quaffle, a clear field ahead and off he goes – he's really flying – dodges a speeding Bludger – the goalposts are ahead – come on, now, James – Keeper Bletchley dives – misses – GRYFFINDOR SCORES!!"

The whole Gryffindor cheers filled the cold morning air, with howls and moans from the Slytherins. Even the Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs cheered loudly for the Gryffindor team.

Up in the air to avoid the bludgers, the Seeker, Angela Moody, was gliding over the game, squinting about for some sign of the Snitch. This was part of hers and Jordon's game plan.

"Potter scored again – Slytherin in possession, Chaser Pucey ducks two Bludgers, Beaters Black and Lupin and Chaser Bell and sped towards the – wait a moment – was that the Snitch??" Daniel announced as he squinted to take a better look at something glittering near the Gryffindor goalpost.

A murmur ran through the crowd as Andee Pucey dropped the Quaffle, too busy looking over his shoulder at the flash of gold that had passed his right ear.

Both the seekers, Angela from Gryffindor and Teddy Higgs from Slytherin saw the Snitch. In a great rush of excitement, neck and neck they hurtled towards the Snitch – all the Chasers seemed to have forgotten what they were supposed to be doing as they hung in mid-air to watch.

Moody was faster than Higgs.

WwwwhHHhaaaMM!!

Marty Flint had blocked Moody on purpose and her broom span off course, she was holding on for dear life.

"FOUL!!" Screamed the Gryffindor crowd.

Madam Hooch spoke angrily to Flint and then ordered a free shot at the goalposts for Gryffindor. In all the confusion, of course, the Golden Snitch had disappeared from sight again.

"So after that obvious and revolting foul from the Slytherins – Flint nearly kills the Gryffindor Seeker, which could happen to anyone, so a penalty hit for Gryffindor, taken by Spinnet, who puts it away, no trouble and we continue play, Gryffindor still in possession."

The whole game had been continuing for five hours without stopping. It was one of those long games that they had since a Quidditch match cannot end until the snitch was caught.

By now, the players were getting exhausted. Even the announcer, Daniel Thomas had lost his zest from the beginning. The game went on and on for another hour with lesser and lesser scoring. The game was proceeding at a much slower pace by the sixth hour.

Suddenly Angela Moody was diving towards something. Teddy Higgs, who was rather exhausted, gave chase nevertheless.

"I've got the Snitch!!" Angela shouted to the crowd, waving the Golden Snitch above her head excitedly. Everyone jumped off their seats and cheered loudly. The lengthy game finally ended.

Daniel Thomas was happily shouting the result – Gryffindor had won by five hundred and ten points to four hundred points. The Gryffindors were waving their banners and some were waving their scarves as well.

The players returned to the grounds, exhausted, after six hours and fifty-four minutes of playing.

"James!! Sirius!! Remus!!" Lily shouted among the crowd surrounding the Gryffindor team. The three guys excused themselves and squeezed out from the packed field.

"Our longest record of Quidditch practice was six hours and I thought that was a killer." James said exhaustedly.

"That was a long game!!" Remus commented tiredly.

"You guys were brilliant!!" Lily said cheerfully.

"Let's head back to the tower!!" James said enthusiastically, having some plans going on in his head.

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"Where are we heading??" Lily asked suspiciously. The septet was walking along a long stretch of deserted corridor. The girls had never wondered to this part of the castle before.

"You'll know soon enough." James said, grinning ear to ear. Sirius, Remus and Peter shared the similar expression as well.

"Is this some joke?? Going to push us into some empty classroom or something??" Lily asked, trying very hard to recognize the way back to Gryffindor tower. The three sweaty and stinky guys were unusually excited about heading towards the designated location. Arabella and Stefanie were following, trying to remember the way back as well.

"Don't worry. We don't _dare_ to trick you girls." James replied. He was trying to find a particular painting.

"I don't doubt that actually." Lily grinned. None of them had forgotten the prank that the girls did for revenge when they were in first year. They remembered that incident so clear that it seemed to have happened just yesterday.

"Aha. Here we are." James said. The guys checked the corridor to make sure that the coast was clear before James tickled the pear on a painting of a fruit bowl.

"Huh?? What are you doing??" Lily asked, rather curious when the pear wriggled a little. Suddenly the painting swing opened and revealed a large room with four long tables and many house elves.

"Welcome James, Sirius, Remus and Peter. I see that you have brought some friends along." A house elf greeted them the moment the seven climbed into the entrance quickly. The girls were still rather bewildered at the sight of over a hundred house-elves scuttling around busily.

"Hello Scooby. This is Lily, Arabella and Stefanie." James told the house elf as if they were old friends.

"Welcome Miss Lily, Miss Arabella and Miss Stefanie." Scooby said and smiled at them warmly.

"Hi Scooby." The girls chorused as they looked around the room in amazement.

"Is this the kitchen??" Lily asked intriguingly.

"That's right." James replied and then turned to Scooby. "Can we have our dinner here, Scooby??"

"Sure, James. What would you like to eat??"

"What's for dinner today??" Sirius asked. His stomach was rumbling away rather violently. A seven hour-long Quidditch match had used up all their carbohydrates and fats.

"Pasta and pizza, Sirius." Scooby answered and several house elves went to the back of the kitchen to fetch their dinners over.

"Sounds good." Lily commented as the house elves returned with plates of steaming pasta and pizzas.

"Once again, it tastes wonderful." James said in between mouthfuls from his large slice Stuff Crust Supreme Pizza. The seven of them helped themselves with their dinner in the kitchen that evening. They had to sit on the floor because the tables were used for serving the dinner at the Great Hall upstairs.

"Thank you for your hospitality, Scooby." Lily smiled at the wide-eyed house elf.

"You're very much welcome, Miss Lily." Scooby replied.

"Can we have some party food, Scooby??" James asked after he finished his five helpings of pizza and pasta. A number of house elves came over with packets of food.

"Wow. So much?? How are we going to finish them all??" Lily commented. The house-elves had brought at least a dozen packets of chips, biscuits, cookies, muffins, crackers, cakes, chocolates, several tubs of ice cream and jelly. There were a few bottles of Coke, Pepsi, Sprite, 7-Up, F&N Orange and Grape as well.

"We're going to party in the common room." James told Lily. The girls gave the guys a quizzical look. It looked like the Marauders had decided that they were going to throw a party in the common room after the match because they were very sure they would win this match.

"Thank you very much!!" The seven chorused happily as they climbed out from the painting. The painting closed behind them and they walked up towards the tower with bulging bags of foodstuff.

"Anyone knows the charm to reduce the size and weight of these packets??" James asked. He was carrying six bottles of soft drinks and it seemed to get heavier as he climbed up the staircases.

"I know. But I don't wanna say." Lily said cheekily. She had learnt the charm a year ago when she found her trunk too heavy for her. But unfortunately she could not use it in the muggle world because she was considered an underage witch.

"Please say. This is really heavy. You can carry it." James pleaded, looking at Lily with his puppy dog brown eyes.

"Nope. You guys are really weak." Lily smiled. The guys were carrying the heavy stuffs like drinks and ice cream. The girls, carrying the much lighter stuffs like paper cups and chips, were not complaining.

"Pleasy please, my dearest Lily." Sirius said, contributed himself to the puppy dog eyes group.

"Nah. You guys ought to train some muscles." Lily smiled. It was fun playing the guys.

"Lils, we had a long and tiring game just now. So pleasseee lighten our load." Remus added, looking at Lily in his puppy dog eyes.

"No amount of puppy dog eyes you give me will I change my mind. C'mon, we're nearly there." Lily said as she climbed the moving staircases two at a time.

"C'mon you guys, I think you can go faster than this." Arabella added and run up a flight of steps with two large bulging bags. Stefanie ran up the staircase equally fast although she was holding two large bags of biscuits. Lily had secretly charmed the loads that the girls were carrying to make them feather-light.

"Seriously, I think Lils is right about you guys being weak. Hurry up. Three more flights to go." Stefanie said and dashed up the steps without much effort.

"Girls." The three guys muttered and climbed up two steps at a time silently.

"Too bad Hogwarts doesn't have escalators or elevators." Lily said, grinning. It was rather tedious to climb so many flights of steps after a heavy dinner and a long day.

"What are escuvators and elelators??" James asked curiously.

"_Escalators_ are staircases with the steps moving by itself. _Elevators_ are containers that brings carry us up and down many levels without climbing any steps." Lily told the questioning James, Sirius and Stefanie.

"They're muggle inventions." Arabella added helpfully, looking at their confused expressions.

"Too bad we don't have them in Hogwarts, they sure reduce the time we spent climbing staircases." Remus said. He had frequent muggle shopping centers when he was younger. He knew practically everything about muggles. That was one of the reasons why he excelled in Muggle Studies. He scored better than Lily and Arabella, who had lived in the muggle world all their lives.

"You're really good with muggle inventions." Stefanie complimented sincerely.

"I see muggle inventions from a wizard point of view, unlike Lils and Bell who sees them as a daily necessity." Remus said modestly.

"Alright, here we are." Lily said and she said the password 'quidditch cup' to the Pink Lady. Leo thought it was inspiring to use it as a password to motivated everyone to aim towards that.

"We're trying to see them from a witch's point of view. But not too successful, that's all." Arabella, second to reach the portrait, told Remus who was a flight of steps behind her.

"No one back from dinner yet. Let's do a little decorations to the common room." James grinned devilishly.

"More detentions coming up!!" Lily agreed as she transfigured some muggle balloons from the magical bags they were using.

"Haha. You call this balloons??" Sirius laughed at the oddly shaped and appeared deflated transfigured balloon.

"Let me do it." James said as he corrected the deflated and deformed balloon back to normal round balloons. They had played with all sorts of balloons back at Remus' house way back in the summer holidays.

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"We need some music!!" Lily suggested. They had finished decorating the common room until it looked like a party place with dance floor and all. Joey and Samantha were the first to return to the common room and had joined in the fun. They were fun-loving girls, but more towards the studious side.

"WWN!!" Stefanie exclaimed and she 'accio' her portable wizarding radio down from her dormitory. They had been moving the furniture around the common room and cleared a large portion in the center of the room into a dance floor.

"Let me make the wall sound proof." James commented and cast a spell on the entrance and windows.

"Everything settled??" Lily asked as Sirius was adjusting the volume till full blast.

"Yeah!! We can get the party going!!" James shouted from the loud music. By now, most of the students had returned from dinner. Some started eating the snacks they had brought up. The Marauders and the third-year girls were the first to hit the dance floor. The song Dancing Queen was blasting from the radio at the corner.

Within ten minutes, most of the students were dancing away, all schoolwork stress forgotten.

"Wanna bet that McGonagall won't be coming in until twelve tonight??" James shouted with an I-know-something-which-you-don't-know look.

"How would you know anyway??" Lily shouted back, knowing the familiar expression on James too well.

"I'm James the Great one."

"Yeah, right."

"There's the prefects and Head boy and Girl meeting tonight actually." Remus said at the top of his voice. They had gone to ask the seventh-year prefect Leo the night before. He had supported the idea totally but he could not participate because that was against the school rule. He wanted to keep his prefect badge. All he said that he had agreed to drag the meeting longer for the Gryffindor prefects and try to delay McGonagall from coming over.

"No wonder. We should have parties like this in the common room more often." Lily shouted to James agreeing.

"We wanted after our first match versus Ravenclaw. Remus said that if we've a party after every match, it would ruin all the fun. So we saved it especially after we win the house cup. That is more worth of a celebration."

"It's a great party, isn't it??" Sirius shouted to James and Lily. It was blasting Uptown Girl now. Everyone in the Gryffindor common room were dancing rather wildly especially the fourth-years and above. The younger ones were not so expressive.

"You guys are brilliant!!" Samantha complimented James and Sirius loudly. James and Sirus gave her their charming Marauders' smile, but to Lily, she called it the egoistic smirk.

The Marauders were popular among the Gryffindors. They were the only one in history of Gryffindor students that dared to break rules and defy the orders like no tomorrow. They were also the first to go against Slytherins openly in Great Hall and during lessons. Most of the first and second years girls from all houses adored and admired the Marauders but they were just not interested in girls. Lily, Arabella and Stefanie secretly joked that the guys might be gays. The four guys do behaved a little bit gay-like sometimes.

After three hours of vigorous partying, most of them were tired and some had gathered around and helped themselves with the snacks. Some couples were dancing to the slower songs that were on air. The seven of them had been switching partner song after song, dancing with partners from first-year to seventh-year.

WWN was having a party songs weekend and it had fitted their party theme totally. Currently a slow I Knew I Loved You were blasting. James was back dancing with Lily; Sirus with Arabella; Remus with Stefane and Peter with Gracie.

"It was great, wasn't it??" James said, grinning at another successful rule-breaking attempt.

"Yupz. I had lots of fun."

"It's fun only when the Marauders are around."

"Yeah, right. I can't see why."

"Of course you're right. We're the dare-doers."

"It would be fun if this can go on all night."

"We thought so too. But unfortunately there're no possible charm we can prevent McGonagall from coming in. We thought of tripping her or body-binding her, but that was nearly impossible."

"The prefects are back. I think their meeting had ended."

"I noticed that. Leo and Angela are not back though."

"Perhaps it's just the seventh-year prefects."

"Or perhaps they're holding McGonagall back for our sake?? They're really noble!!"

"I thought you were kidding when you said Leo was in your little conspiracy!!"

"We weren't. There was really such a conspiracy."

"Well, detentions for sure."

"I don't mind."

"This gonna give you at least two weeks, I believe."

"Fine by me. I only have three hundred and sixty nine so far."

"You actually counted??"

"There isn't a need to. Filch had been reminding us constantly in our detentions with him."

"A drawer of detention letters for the Marauders."

"By next year, he can dedicate a drawer to me."

"You're serious??"

"I'm not Sirius."

"Not that."

"Then what??"

"Never mind."

"Song end. Let's change partner."

"Okie dokes." Lily said she walked over to Remus while James walked towards Gracie.

The next song was Right Here Waiting.

"How was your dance with James??"

"How was your dance with Stefanie??"

"I asked you first."  
  


"I merely replied with a question."

"That's very smart of you."

"Thank you." Both of them chuckled at their little joke.

"Great party, isn't it??"  
  


"Definitely. I think I had danced with every single guy in Gryffindor tonight."

"Did all of them tell you that you're gorgeous??"

"I don't think so. But I think you told all your partners that they're gorgeous."

"No way am I going to tell James or Sirus or Peter that I think they're gorgeous." Remus pretended to exclaim rather shockingly. The four guys had their first dance with one another. It was not exactly a solo dance but the four of them had stood in a circular manner and started the dance together.

"I meant female partners." Lily laughed at his small-pretended outburst.

"No, you're the only one."

"You sure know a number of pick-up lines for your tender age."

"I learn pretty fast."

"I noticed." The song ended. Since the deejay was speaking, all of them took a break and went for a drink.

"Hey gorgeous, let's dance." James exclaimed and invited a laughing Samantha to the dance floor. The song blasting now was One In A Million.

"C'mon Lils." Sirius led Lily back to the dance floor. She had not even finished her drink. Andrew Spinnet had approached Arabella and invited her for a dance.

"Do I have the pleasure to have this dance with you??" Remus was asking a blushing Joey.

"May I??" Peter asked Stefanie and she had agreed.

"So Lilykins, you're really one in a million." Sirus commented jokingly.

"What do you mean by I'm one in a million??"

"One lily in a million of flowers."

"Yeah. Spill the truth."

"One red head in a million of haired girls."

"Oh, c'mon."

"One girl in a million of females."

"Like real."

"One spitfire in a million of redheads."

"Very funny."

"You don't believe me. What more can I say??"

"You can keep quiet."

"Sirius can't keep quiet!!"

"I know that."

"Then why did you tell me to keep quiet??"

"I was suggesting."

"Very funny, Lils."

"I know."

"What do you know??"

"I know I'm funny."

"You're funny??"

"Yeah."

"How funny??"

"This funny."

"This funny??" Sirus said and he conjured up some ice cubes in his hand and slid them into Lily's top on her back.  
  


"Aahh!! SIRIUS BLACK!!"

"Yes??" Sirius replied innocently.

"Argh!! That's very funny." Lily exclaimed. She was laughing at his little joke instead of getting angry.

"I know. So are you." Sirus was laughing away. Lily got the ice cubes out from her tee shirt. She turned and saw James dancing with Samantha behind her. She grabbed James' shirt from the back and threw the ice cubes inside.

"Ahh!! What's that??" James exclaimed. Samantha was grinning at Lily. James shook to get rid of the ice cubes and dumped into innocent Remus' shirt.

"Aah!! James!!" Remus jumped and shook the ice cubes out vigorously. By now the three were having a literally cooled back. Remus got the ice cubes and threw into Peter's shirt. Peter jumped in shock and got rid of the ice cubes from his shirt. The nine third-years started laughing at their little joke. The rest of the Gryffindors were totally oblivious to the hysterical third-years and continued dancing at the next song It's Gonna Be Me.

They nine of them stopped their laughing and started dancing to the rhythm. As predicted by James, Professor McGonagall walked into the Gryffindor common room with Leo and Angela at midnight.

"Oops. Look." Lily hissed to the rest of them. No one else seemed to notice Professor McGonagall's sudden existence in the common room.

"We'll settle it." James said and he walked towards Professor McGonagall. The rest of the third-years followed behind to back him up.

"Potter, Black, Lupin and Pettigrew. I believed this is your idea??" Professor McGonagall said sternly, looking around the current Gryffindor common room.

"That's right, my Professor." James replied with a bow.

"Don't you know it's against the rules??"

"Which rule??"

"Rule number two hundred and tenth, no unauthorized partying of any kind in house common room."

"We knew." James replied, although he had not even heard of that rule till this point of time.

"Then??"

"This isn't a party. It is a _celebration_ for Gryffindor winning of house cup."

"This is considered a party."

"Celebration involves people having a good time together to celebrate for something _authorized_ but partying means people gather together, authorized or unauthorized, getting entertained." James said wittily.

"You jolly well know that you just earned a detention for this??"

"We know this clearly. But getting a detention from the celebration of the quidditch cup is worth it."

"Ok, a week of detention."

"A night of celebrations."

"Stop now."

"You can't do that."

"Why can't I??"

"It's a crime to rob someone from their thing."  
  


"Yes. What do you mean??"

"You can't rob us from our happiness. That's some sort of unsaid crime."

"Well.."

"Please, Professor McGonagall, can we just party all night. Please." Lily begged at this point of time.

"Alright, just tonight."

"Thank you so much!!" The five girls rushed forward to hug the professor dramatically. Professor McGonagall was a little shocked at their sudden expression.

"Detention for the four of you on Monday night."

"No problem!!" The Marauders chorused cheerfully. Professor McGonagall shook her head and left the Gryffindor common room.

The nine third-years and the two seventh-year prefects high-fived with one another for their triumph with Professor McGonagall. They turned back to the dance floor and started dancing once again, even more wildly than before, to the song, Larger Than Life.


	30. The Major Itch

**Chapter 29: The Major Itch**

"All these practicing are driving me nuts!!" Lily exclaimed as she plopped onto James' fluffy cloud-like bed, pushing him off. The girls, once again, were hanging out in the newly transfigured boys' dormitory.

"My brain is fizzing!!" Arabella complained as she lied down on Sirius' fire-like bed, rubbing her temples a little.

"I'm very very very tired!!" Stefanie closed her eyes, gave a yawn, as she enjoyed the watery feeling on Remus' waterbed.

"At least you girls don't have Quidditch training on Tuesdays and Thursdays." James complained as he sat on the floor beside his bed. Lily had occupied his bed because she thought the fluffy cloud-like bed looked comfortable.

"At least now there're no more Quidditch trainings for us." Sirius said as he settled on an armchair, which looked like a monster grabbing onto the person who sat on it.

"At least we had weekends off to Hogsmeade and for homework. Dumbledore could kill us before we get killed by Voldemort." Remus sighed as he lay on the carpet grass patch in the center of the dormitory.

"School is coming to an end soon." Peter added quietly as he hid himself in his tent-like bed. The boys had transfigured the normal third-year boys' dormitory to something rather absurd. But this time there was no theme to the dormitory. Nothing had matched.

James wanted the heavenly and angelic kind of theme because he wanted his dormitory to be tranquil and welcoming. The Quidditch trainings and practices had worn him out all day; he could only seek solace in his sleep. So he made his section of the room into his imagination of heaven.

Sirius found heaven and angel too sissy for a boys' dormitory. So he went for the complete opposite. He made his portion of the room to be hellish. His tyrannosaurus-like wardrobe with opening at the stomach, and his other dinosaur-like table and chair matched his devilish theme.

Remus wanted something closed to nature. The waterbed made him felt like he was floating in the water. The starry ceiling at his segment of the room made him looked like he was sleeping under the night sky. The carpet and furnishings around his bed were grassy and shrubby.

Peter was indecisive and he took the previous idea of forest theme for his part of the room.

"I'm really itching for some major prank actually." Lily spoke her thoughts so suddenly.

"Our last prank was just this morning, making Slytherins dressed like the muggle superman. With their underwear worn outside their pants and their cloaks soaring behind them." James added as he started polishing his most hatred accessory.

"That wasn't major enough. We all had a good morning laugh, that's all. We're laughing at the Slytherins' humiliation at least once a week. The fun had kinda worn off over time." Lily pointed out. She did found it funny this morning on the appearance of the Slytherins, but it was not as funny as to the younger students.

"Perhaps we can prank on the professors next time." Sirius suggested with a wicked glint in his eyes. Arabella shot him a look from his bed.

"I personally wouldn't want to prank on Dumbledore nor McGonagall. But I think the one who deserved to be pranked is still Porky. Or Trelawny. The rest of the professors were quite normal. You guys could try Binns but I think he's poor thing enough." Lily said, listing out the professors.

"We should prank Porky. But how is the question. Charming their clothes or slipping potions into his drinks is near impossible." Remus said, laughing at the thought of Professor Porky being the first staff victim.

"Hey, don't tickle my leg. It's itchy!!" Lily shrieked as James conjured a feather to tickle Lily's leg, which was sticking out from the clouds.

"Itchy." James repeated the word as he tried to create a prank from there.

"We could make itchy potion and slip into Slytherins' drinks. Or charm their clothes to itchiness??" Sirius added suggestively.

"Wait a minute. I think I've got a bottle of itchy powder somewhere in my trunk." Remus exclaimed and went to dig his trunk for a particular bottle.

"What is it anyway??" James asked curiously.

"Itchy powder is a type of powder that makes your skin itchy. It looked like normal powder until you touch it." Lily explained. Arabella, Stefanie and Peter's light snores could be heard in the dormitory.

"Hey, I think we can pour these itchy powder onto the Slytherins' clothes." James said excitedly.

"We can charm their clothes too!! Maybe make the wearer dance or sing or something??" Sirius added eagerly.

"What do you include in your 'something'??" Lily asked. The Slytherins had countless dances and sang numerous numbers of songs in their last three years.

"Stripping or pole dancing??" Sirius added cheekily. Some Slytherins actually had curvaceous and voluptuous figures but were rather brainless. A famous Slytherin who had the looks was Narcissa Clarkee. Tall and slender with a model figure and long wavy blond hair, she was one of the most gorgeous female in third-year Slytherin. As wonderful as she looked physically, her attitude sucks to the core and her intelligence was nearly zero.

"Keep it to dance then." Lily said as she wrinkled her nose. _The idea of Malfoy and Snape stripping at breakfast sounds totally nauseating. I don't think I want to witness that._

"Got it." Remus yelled as he stood up holding a metal bottle. "This is the amazing itchy powder I bought from some muggle store. No spells or charm could erase its effect because it wasn't magical to start with."

"Are you sure??" James asked eyeing the normal looking bottle.

"Give me your pinkie finger." Remus instructed and sprinkled a few specks onto James' finger. Immediately he started scratching rather vigorously until it looked horrifying red and swollen.

"This itch is killing me!!" James yelped dramatically. "I can't imagine how it would be if it's all over their body."

"This sounds like a good prank for the Slytherins who think so highly of themselves." Lily agreed nodding. She turned to lie on her stomach and watched the guys playing with the itchy powder.

"We certainly need a Saturday laugh at breakfast. Why not we do it tonight??" James suggested, fishing out his invisibility cloak from his trunk.

"Add this fail-proof charm to their clothes too." Lily said as she 'accio' a quill and parchment to write down the charm to show the guys.

"What does this do??" Remus asked, reading the simple but long charm on the parchment.

"When said correctly to the clothing, it will dictate the wearer to dance professionally. When there was some slight mistake, I meant the slightest mistake, the wearer will dance ridiculously." Lily said, laughing.

"Where did you get charm??" James asked curiously. Lily always managed to find charms for anything and everything.

"Witch weekly. It's a simple joke actually. Just make the wearer dance for twenty-four hours. Tested and proven." Lily said knowingly. The girls had come across the charm on an issue of Witch Weekly the Saturday before. Lily thought it was just a joke and charmed Arabella's clothes. Arabella started ballet dancing in the girls' dormitory and she made Stefanie dance with her. But unfortunately Arabella did not say it correctly and Stefanie started twisting and turning rather ridiculously. In fits, Stefanie charmed Lily's clothes and Lily started hip-hop dancing in an off-form manner. The clothes somehow got stuck and could not be removed. In the end they decided to tune to WWN and danced the day away. The charm wore off as the day passed. It only allowed the wearer to remove the clothes only after twelve hours of continuous dancing.

"This is brilliant. Let's get prepared and head off to the Slytherin tower in fifteen minutes." James instructed as the three guys get prepared for their major prank. They had to drag Peter out of bed for that.

33333333333333333333

"No way!!"

"Why not??"

"You're kidding."

"I'm not!!"

"This is not looking good."

"I think it's great!!"

"This is not going to happen."

"It is!!"

"Do you know the seriousness of this??"

"I know. I'm Sirius."

"It spells trouble."

"We live for that."

"But this is big trouble."

"Nothing is too great for the Marauders."

"I'm not exactly looking forward for that sight."

"Neither am I."

"It's getting late."

"Let's go to bed."

"I can't wait for tomorrow."

"Me too."

"Me three."

"Me four."

"Not me."

"You'll like it."

"I do."

"But still.."

"No buts."

"Fine."

"Good night."

"Nitey."

"Nite nite."

33333333333333333333

"What're the Slytherins doing??"  
  


"Dancing??"

"Strip dancing you meant??"

"No, they're scratching."

"Looks obscene."

"Look at Porky."

"What's wrong with him??"

"They're scratching rather violently."

"I wonder what's so itchy."

"Maybe it's a prank from the Marauders??"

"This is interesting though."

"Nice revenge on Porky."

"Nice revenge on Slytherins more like it."

"Whatever it is, it's definitely not an appetizer for breakfast."

"This is nauseating."

"Look at Malfoy in his deformed ballet."

"Snape is funnier in his ballroom dancing with the carrot."

"Porky is hilarious in his tango with the celery!!"

"What a show!!"

"It must be the Marauders."

"Who else could it be??"

"Porky is going to scream."

"He'll do more than just scream."

"He'll flip??"

"He's against the Marauders"

"Maybe even expulsion."

"I doubt so."

"James Potter is the son of Minister of Magic."

"Porky is just.. Porky??"

"Look at Malfoy and Snape and his two Cronies." James said, laughing hysterically with the rest of the students in the Great Hall. Lucius, Severus and the rest of the Slytherin guys were dancing ridiculously on their house table, and scratching away at the same time.

"You think they'll realize that it's their clothes that is controlling them??" Lily said in between laughter. She started scratching her hand rather automatically as though scratching was contagious.

"Not so soon. They aren't exactly smart." Sirius commented as he laughed. Lucius was trying to some break dance on the table but somehow had rolled off the table instead.

"I can't believe you guys did it on Porky as well." Arabella said, laughing at the sight of Professor Porky scratching himself all over and doing some odd form of dancing as well. Professor Porky was now scratching his toe with one hand and back with the other. At the same time he was shaking his butt like he was dancing.

"He just happened to be there. We didn't mean to do it on him. I thought we told you already." Remus said, laughing with the rest of the student population.

"Yeah, he deserved that for treating us in that manner." Stefanie said, laughing in an amused manner at a couple Slytherin girls scratching themselves and dancing not as wildly at the Slytherin table.

"Why are there girls dancing and scratching?? I thought you guys only did it on the guys??" Lily asked quizzically.

"We sprinkled powder on all the cloaks and all over the Slytherin common room. On the couches and chairs and floor too. Just for maximum effect." James explained while laughing at Severus who was now tiptoeing for a ballet dance, looking as if he would topple any moment.

The night before, the four guys had followed some first-year Slytherins into their common room and waited until most of them had gone to bed before starting their prank. They had charmed and powdered every single cloak in the common room then they headed towards the third-year boys' dormitory. Unable to resist their temptations, they had done it on all the Slytherins boys instead. They had wanted to prank of the Slytherin girls but Remus had stopped them. Just at the point when they were about to leave, they caught Professor Porky dozing off in a corner of the Slytherin common room and had conveniently charmed and powdered his clothes before they sneaked back to the Gryffindor tower.

"I don't think Porky is going to let you guys off so easily." Lily said. Professor Porky is now trying desperately to dance ballet on the staff table and scratch his hands and legs.

"He won't know that was our doing. We had destroyed the container and any trace of evidence. Even though he knows, he had no proof against us." James replied proud of his flawless plan.

"Pranking on a staff is considered serious. But heck, it was Porky anyway." Lily said. Sirius, Arabella, Stefanie, Remus and Peter were watching the dances with interest like the rest of the population in the Great Hall to be bothered with breakfast.

"I believe McGonagall would be here within five minutes. She usually appears around fifteen minutes after the beginning of the prank. It's a great pity that we can never witness our entire hard work." James said, eating his breakfast corn cereals.

"Since she disliked Porky, she probably wants him to suffer longer." Lily replied jokingly. No one seemed to offer help to the poor Slytherins who looked rather horrified at their own actions.

After half an hour of watching the Slytherins and Professor Porky, most students and staff had grown tired and continued eating their breakfast while the Slytherins continued their tabletop dance. The usual Saturday morning chattering was unusually loud with the Marauders spicing things up a little.

"McGonagall is not bugging us for detention today??" James asked after they finished their breakfast in unexpected peace.

"She probably fainted from all the laughing." Sirius joked.

"I don't think that could be possible. I mean that was hilariously funny but how can anyone faint from laughing??" Lily added reasonably.

"This would be our first major prank without getting any detention." Remus grinned at them.

"I doubt so. McGonagall heading our way now." Stefanie commented. They all turned to look at an expressionless Professor McGonagall walking towards them. 

"She probably wanted Porky to suffer longer." Arabella said as she studied Professor McGonagall's expression. She usually had a furious look but today she looked as if she was trying not to laugh.

James mouthed five, four, three, two, and one.

"Potter!! Black!! Lupin!! Pettigrew!! In my office NOW!!" James, Sirus and Remus mouthed the exact words that Professor McGonagall was shouting at them.


	31. Three Years Came and Gone

**Chapter 30: Three Years Came and Gone**

"What a week." Lily exclaimed to no one in particular. They had gotten back their results the day before. James, as usual, topped the level for Transfiguration while Lily topped Charms. Sirius topped for Defense Against Dark Arts while Remus for Muggle Studies, Arabella for Divination and Stefanie for Care for Magical Creatures. Even Peter topped Herbology for his first time.

"Three years just flew passed." Lily said as she settled on the couch beside James. It was the last second day of the term before they had to leave for their summer holidays. They were spared from the practices this week and the group was enjoying their short-lived freedom to the max. _In four years time, I'm going to graduate from the place I call my second-home._

"I can't believe Dumbledore wants us to practice our powers during the holidays. He had written to my father to tell him that we're entitled to use our magic outside school but must never allow anyone else to see us." James said happily. _Hmm.. maybe for once I can come up with a decent prank in the holidays. Who can I prank?? The neighbors?? _The Marauders had just finished their one-week detention from the prank they pulled a fortnight ago.

"It had been an eventful year. I wonder what's for us in our next four years here." Lily sighed. The group had gathered together in front of the fireplace. It was dinnertime and neither of them was into the mood of having dinner in the Great Hall. Sirius and Remus had offered to go to the kitchen to get seven sets of dinner. Arabella, Stefanie and Peter had tagged along with the two guys, leaving Lily and James in the common room by themselves since everyone else was at the Great Hall.

"Four years is a long time. But I'm sure we'll have the best time of our lives here. Fion always said how much she misses her life here in Hogwarts." James said, stretching lazily in the couch.

"The future had already been planned for us. We've a task to fulfill." Lily pointed as he turned and looked at James. _Hmm.. he looks cute lying there. I still think he looks wonderful in his specs._

"I'm sure everything will turn out fine." James said and turned towards Lily, and caught her off-guard for staring at him. _Why is she looking at me like that?? Something on my face?? _James wiped his face quickly.

"Hope that's the case. We're training really hard for that." Lily turned back and stared blankly at the fire. _What am I trying to do?? Stare at him?? Argh.._

"So what are your plans for this break??"

"Practicing my powers??"

"Other than that??"

"Don't know. Hope my parents haven't planned anything for me. Besides I think we'll need to gather at your place for practice." Lily said as she thought of the letter she wrote home telling her parents not to plan anything for her this summer.

"How are you going to practice?? There isn't a hospital wing at my home."

"I don't know."

"Anyway, I'm sure Dumbledore will think of something. This summer is going to be really fast."

"Definitely. Training is tiring. But at least during the break we don't have any lessons and homework to deal with."

"True. We can start planning our holidays when the rest get back."

"Yeah. I'm starving already."

"So am I." That was like a final statement. The two of them just sat at their respective couches and stoned.

"We're back!!" Sirius yelled as he hopped into the common room ten minutes later, breaking the peace in Gryffindor common room in the last ten minutes.

"How's the conversation??" Arabella asked, eyeing Lily and James and back to Lily again.

"Just like that." James told Arabella truthfully. Lily eyed Arabella suspiciously. Arabella returned the look with a not-so-innocent-looking grin.

"Anyway we gotten seven different varieties of pizza for dinner." Remus said proudly.

"Hawaiian, Pepperoni, Supreme, Curry Chicken, Seafood Supreme, Vegetarian and Stuff-crust chicken." Stefanie listed the seven pre-cut pizzas and aligned them on the table magically.

"Why do you need _five_ people to get seven pizzas??" Lily asked curiously, eyeing Arabella and Stefanie.

"We just want to get familiarize with the route to the kitchen, just in case." Arabella said, with an ultra innocent look plastered on her face. Stefanie was suddenly looking very angelically innocent.

"Yeah, right." Lily muttered.

"Chow time!!" James shouted as he reached for his first slice of the Stuff-crust chicken pizza. The rest grabbed a slice of pizza each and started eating.

"So what's the end-of-year prank this time??" Lily asked the Marauders in generally.

"We had already planned that. All the props are ready and waiting." James said smirking.

 "So what is it??" Lily pestered.

"Only the Marauders know."

"Fine." They continued eating their pizzas. The girls ate about four slices each while the guys ate at least double of what the girls had ate.

"Are we going to spend the night sitting here??" Sirius asked playfully.

"No, we're going to spend in the dorm with Joey and Samantha." Lily replied coolly.

"What about you guys??" Arabella asked the guys.

"Only the Marauders know." James replied again.

"Fine. I thought we're friends." Lily pointed.

"Yeah, but only guys can be a Marauder." James said as he helped himself with another slice of pizza.

33333333333333333333

"Let's play a little bit of truth or dare. But we keep whatever we know purely in this room." Lily suggested. The five third-years were having a small slumber party in their dormitory. It was one of their few gatherings.

"Ok, let's use this bottle to select." Arabella suggested as she took a new bottle of Evian mineral water bottle out from the magical bag. Lily, Arabella and Stefanie had made a dash to the kitchens after their dinner to gather some snacks for their all-girls slumber party.

"No magic on the bottle ok??" Joey said because Arabella's face was plastered with an obvious cheeky look.

"No worries." Arabella assured. "Whoever use any magic to force the selection must go to the boys' dorm to get their underwear."

"That sounds like a good dare you know." Lily said devilishly.

"I thought you just said keeping tonight purely in this room??" Samantha joked.

"I eat my words then. I must say Bell had came up with an awfully good dare!!" Lily replied grinning.

"Imagine every single dare was to go to the boys' dormitory to get their underwear. They'll realize that all their underwear went missing overnight!!" Stefanie said. The five girls started giggling.

"Ok, let me spin this bottle." Arabella said. She turned the bottle forcefully. The bottle twirled round and round and finally it stopped at Joey.

"Truth or dare??"

"Truth."

"Who do you have a crush on??"

"Ricter Davis from Ravenclaw. And probably Remus as well." Joey said, blushing very furiously. Stefanie looked at her, rather amazed at her honesty.

"Stef getting competition ooh."

"You like Ricter too??"

"Nope."

"Then must be Remus." Samantha said grinning while Joey was still blushing away. Stefanie kept quiet but smiled instead.

"Joe, your turn to spin." Lily said to the blushing girl. She calmed down a little and turned the bottle gently.

"Bell, truth or dare??"

"Dare."

"I dare you go to the boys' dormitory and take Sirius' underwear over."

"No problem. Be right back." Arabella said and left the dormitory. The girls started eating their snacks while waiting for Arabella to come back.

"Ta-da!!" Arabella returned five minutes later holding plain blue boxers and swinging it wildly.

"How do we know if it's Sirius' boxers??" Lily asked, laughing at Arabella's triumph grin.

"I'm sure. Look at this little word here at the waistband. The room looked rather disastrous and clothes were scattered all over. I went straight to his trunk to take clean underwear. I don't trust those on the floor." Arabella said. "I think the guys labeled their underwear in case of wearing the wrong one. And I realized that they actually all have single colour underwear." The four girls started laughing hysterically.

"Let's continue, Bell." Arabella flunked Sirius' boxers under her bed and spun the bottle.

"Stef, truth or dare??"

"Truth."

"What's your wildest fantasy with Remus??" Arabella asked. Stefanie blushed at the question while Joey started blushing a little as well.

"Kissing."

"Only kissing??"

"Yupz. With the beach and starry sky as well."

"Ok." Lily said, not convinced at Stefanie's confession. Stefanie took the bottle and spun.

"Sam, truth or dare??"

"Dare."

"Get two boxers belonging to two different guys from the third-year boys' dormitory." Arabella exclaimed before someone else came up with another dare.

"What's with the underwear frenzy??" Stefanie asked in amazement.

"I just want to make them lose their underwear overnight." Arabella said, having a triumph smile on her.

"What's the point?? We're going back tomorrow anyway." Joey pointed.

"We can create a prank with those underwear tomorrow morning at breakfast if we could gather enough boxers." Lily suggested.

"That's a great idea. Ok, two different boys' boxers. No problem." Samantha said and she left the room. The four girls started chatting and eating while waiting.

"Back!!" Samantha said, holding green boxers and red boxers.

"One from James and one from Remus." Lily said, laughing. Samantha threw the boxers to a corner while Arabella crawled under her bed to retrieve Sirius' boxers to add to the pile. Samantha spun the bottle and it turned back to Arabella.

 "Why is it me again??"

"Because it's not us."

"Ok, dare."

"Three different boxers."

"Deal." Arabella left the dormitory. Within five minutes, she returned holding a pile of boxers of four different colours.

"I thought we only said three??"

"I figured that I probably have to run there and get more and more each time. I took every single piece that I can find in their trunks and on the floor. The only boxers that I did not touch are those on them." Arabella said as she dumped the pile of boxers at the corner and went to their bathroom to wash her hands.

"It gets boring if every single person answer dare. Shall we just make it truth??" Lily suggested.

"Alright." Arabella spun the bottle. The bottle pointed at her again. "Not counted, I can't choose myself." She spun the bottle again and it pointed at Lily.

"Shoot."

"Hmm.. When did you fall for James??" Samantha asked cheekily.

"Back in first year I supposed. I don't really remember actually. I think after the revenge we had on them on the second week of school. I thought he looked cute in the boxers with the 'I Love Mummy.'" Lily said and all of them started laughing at the memory of the three eleven-year-old boys wearing nothing but boxers in the Great Hall. Lily took the bottle and spun. The bottle pointed at Samantha.

"So who do you like??"

"Jun Chang."

"WHAT?!?"

"Just joking. I'm not a lesbian don't worry. Ok, I like Leo Jordon."

"He's graduating at the end of this year."

"Yeah, and I barely know him." Samantha said with a rather disappointed tone.

"There'll be a better guy out there."

"Definitely." Samantha took the bottle and spun. The bottle pointed at Arabella again.

"Not again!! Let's do makeover after this."

"Ok, it's like three and this game is getting a little boring."

"Shoot the question."

"Do you like Sirius??"

"I don't!!"

"You don't??"

"I don't!! He's so annoying and irritating and boring and perverted and sicko and-"

"You sure know my brother well enough to discover all that."

"You don't need to know him well to discover that. Everyone can see."

"I can't."

"Neither can I. I think he's a funny guy."

"He's pretty nice and humorous."

"Oh great. You all are targeting at me."

"Just admit that you like Sirius."

"No. I don't!!"

"You do."

"No." Arabella said and she covered her ears. The four girls started laughing at her.

"Let's do something with the boxers. Shall we display them in the common room and hang them at the entrance or something??" Stefanie said, looking over at the heap of boxers at the corner of the room.  
  


"Let's chain them in alternate colors." Lily said as the five girls grabbed their wands and magicked a string to connect the entire long chain of underwear.

"Done. Let's head down to the common room." Stefanie said as she levitated the series of flag-like boxers down with the four girls following behind.

"Let's hang around the four corners and the entrance as well."

"Make it low enough so people could notice their little names on the waistband."

"How about we hang around the circumference of the common room??"

"Ok."

"We need a charm that can secure this so that no one can take them out before everyone sees them."

"No problem." Lily muttered a complicated sounding charm.

"What did you do??"

"Try pulling the boxers from the location??"

Don't pull me!! Don't pull me!!

"The boxers are talking!!" Arabella exclaimed at the screechy sound the talking boxers are making.  
  


"That's right!!" The five girls started giggling softly.

"Let's return. We mustn't let anyone know that we did this." Lily said as the crept silently back to their dormitories at four in the morning.

"Let start with our makeovers and then we can head down for breakfast at seven." Stefanie said.

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"Guys!! Wake up!! It's time for the prank!!" Remus went round the three beds and shook James, Sirius and Peter vigorously. Remus was the only early bird. James had the most difficulty in waking up every morning.

"Five more minutes!!"

"It's five already!!"

"Don't disturb me!!" Remus conjured up three pail of icy cold water above each of the sleeping boys head. With a snap of his finger, the three pails emptied their contents onto the sleepyheads.

"REMUS LUPIN!!" Sirius yelled and jumped up of the bed. It was a rather cold morning. With the icy cold water, it was practically freezing. Peter jumped up in fright as well and followed into the bathroom.

"Oldest trick in the book." James muttered and in his subconscious mind, he muttered the drying spell without his wand and returned to dream land.

"JAMESIE!!" Remus shouted and jumped onto James.

"Aahh!! What are you trying to do??"

"Wake you up!!"

"You're mad!!"

"I'm not!!"

"Who cares??"

"You care!!"

"I don't care!!"

"You do!!"

"Whatever."

"Jamesie, you better get up now. It's five fifteen." Sirius said sleepily, but nevertheless, awake as he walked towards his trunk.

"Ok, I'm up." James surrendered and walked towards the bathroom to wash up.  
  


"Did anyone see my boxers??" Sirius asked. He had been digging his trunk, looked under his bed and searched the floor for his spare underwear.

"Not like we're going to steal them anyway."

"I need to change!!"

"For what?? You wet your boxers last night??"

"No, of course!! It's hygiene."

"Sirius is not that hygienic."

"Whatever."

"JAMES!! Can you hurry up??" No reply.

"I think he dozed off inside." Sirius said and went into the bathroom to see James sitting on top of the toilet bowl with a toothbrush in his mouth half snoring away.

"WAKE UP!!"

"Huh?? Okok." James stuttered in his foamy mouth. He got up and went to rinse off the toothpaste and splashed water on his face.

"Let's go." James instructed in the half-awake tone and they headed out of the dormitory. They tiptoed down the staircase just in case if someone might be awake in the common room.

"Ok, invisibility time." Remus said and Sirius covered the four of them in the automatically enlarged invisibility cloak.

"What are those little flags hanging around the common room??" James asked. The sun had not risen and the common room was rather dark except for the light from the half moon outside.

"Don't know and don't care. Remus, you brought the bottle right??"

"Yep. Safely in my pocket. You can trust me with this." Remus said as he petted his bulging pocket.

"Let's hurry. Dawn is coming in soon." James said as they walked briskly down the moving staircases.


	32. Oh Merlin!

**Chapter 31: Oh Merlin!!**

Don't pull me!! Don't pull me!! Don't pull me!!

"What's that screechy sound??" James asked as the Marauders left their dormitory. _Weird, where did I put my underwear?? Can't seem to find them in the entire dorm._

"No idea, let's go and check it out." Sirius said cheekily as he rushed down the spiral stairs quickly. "Er.."

"What is it??" James asked as Sirius stopped dead at the entrance of the boys' dormitory. "Oh Merlin!!"

"What on earth-"

"Shucks!!"

What a sight at the common room. First and second-year Gryffindor girls were tugging onto something that seemed to be firmly attached to the wall and the more it was tugged the more the thing would resist.

"I want James' boxers!!"

"I take Sirius'!!

"I want all the four different ones!!"

"Don't fight with me for Remus'!!

"No, that's mine!!"

Don't pull me!! Don't pull me!! Don't pull me!!

The Marauders stood in horror looking at the girls tugging something that looked suspiciously like their missing boxers from a string, which had apparently been stuck onto the wall. Some prefects were trying different charms to remove them from the wall, as it had looked kind of obscene.

"James, Sirius, Remus, Peter!! Just at the right time. Can you please remove your boxers from the wall?? The first and second years are going hysterical over them." Leo told the four stunned guys who had just stepped into the common room, still rooted. "Did you just hear what I said??" Leo asked again, a little amused and impatient. The Marauders nodded dumbly. Just then there was a scream from two quarreling first years at the background. Leo rushed over immediately, leaving the Marauders shocked and fixed.

"Erm, can I have one of each of your er.. boxers for keepsake??" Gracie came up to them with two other girls and asked the stupefied Marauders. The three girls were blushing furiously and not looking straight in the eyes with the guys.

"Yeah, no problem. We've too much to spare anyway." James replied coolly. Gracie and her friends gave a quick thank-you and turned back to tug the screeching boxers. He then turned back and shoved the three astounded friends up to their dormitory.

"What on earth are our boxers doing in the common room??" James practically shouted the moment they locked the door of their dormitory and soundproofed it.

"I've no more idea than you do." Remus said, thinking. _It can't be the girls right?? Last night I thought I saw someone creeping around our dormitory in the middle of the night._

"That's the greatest joke on earth." Sirius exclaimed dramatically over his lost boxers.

"They're just boxers anyway."

"I've only twelve and eleven of them are there!! In the middle of the common room!!" Sirius exclaimed again.

"How could they get there in the first place??" James asked. The four guys exchanged a look.

"The girls!!" They chorused.

"It must be." James concluded looking rather pissed off. They left the room again.

"Let's show them what the Marauders can do." Sirius said. He hated being humiliated unexpectedly.

"They're going to get it." James said as the four guys left the room and headed back to the common room. They had a revengeful look on them.

It had gotten even more hysterical than before. More people were tugging the boxers. The prefects were trying all sort of removal charm to get rid of the boxers. The sounds of the boxers' screeching were getting rather unbearable. More than ten boxers were shrieking 'Don't pull me' at the same time unsynchronized. It was a surprise that Professor McGonagall had not come to check out the common room yet.

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"How do we look??" Lily asked enthusiastically. The five girls were standing in front of the full-length mirror in the bathroom, looking identical.

"Like sisters!!" The four girls chorused. Arabella styled the same hairstyle for all of them. It was a weird coincidence that all five girls had waist-long hair with only a different colour though. Their hair were let down in magicked big stylish waves. They had agreed on the same hairstyle after going through about ten issues of Witch Weekly.

"Don't we look gorgeous??" Arabella said, admiring her make-up. Stefanie had done all their make-up magically to bring out their best features. All five had a totally different color combination, but had the similar casual and natural outlook. With different mascara and eye shadows to enhance their eyes; blusher to enhance the cheekbones and natural lip colour, the five girls actually looked like teenage models from the magazines. Gorgeous girls was indeed an understatement.

"I like the way we called ourselves. Denim girls!!" Stefanie joked. All five of them wore similar looking mini-tees that had striking bold blue words 'DENIM GIRLS' in front. Lily had charmed the words to stay on permanently so they could remember this day during their summer break. Lily wore a bright yellow short sleeved mini-tee; Arabella wore a lavender colored with slits at the side that were tied; Stefanie wore a dazzling orange colored sleeveless mini; Samantha wore a black body hugging v-neck mini and Joey wore a white mini with three-quarter sleeve.

"I never noticed that we had similar clothes until today." Joey commented. All of them wore similar shade of blue jeans with similar cutting. The jeans were all hip-huggers and had a flare at the bottom. The only differences between their jeans are only the slight pocket designs and prints.

"We're ready to hit the Great Hall." Samantha said as they slipped into their track shoes. They wanted to adopt the sporty and yet casual chic look. Afterall, they had a trunk to carry later and a train to board, so it was more feasible to wear something comfortable on their feet.

"We're going to be fashionably late. Let's hope we get noticed." Lily said as she checked the clock before they left their cleared dormitory. Ten past eight, early for a Saturday in fact. But breakfast served at eight and since it's the last day of the term, most people were usually at the Great Hall even before eight.

Don't pull me!! Don't pull me!!

"What's that noise??" Joey asked. She was a little tired since she had not slept the whole night.

"The boxers." Lily whispered to the group and they started giggling.

"Hi guys." The girls said as they saw the four guys waiting for them at the bottom of the staircase.

"Oh, wow." James said, looking at the five girls in a rather strange manner.

"What happened to the four of you??" Lily asked coolly. The Marauders and a stunned and awed look plastered on their faces.

"N-nothing." Sirius replied, eyeing each of the girls from head to toe.

"You all look gorgeous today." Remus said, after a minute of brainless staring.

"Thanks Remus." Lily said, smiling at the four guys. "Let's head down for breakfast."

"Bye guys." The five girls waved and they left the common room together. Every pair of eyes in the common room looked at the five pretty girls who just walked out.

"Bye." The Marauders replied after they girls left the common room.

"They look gorgeous!!"

"Aren't they third-years??"

"They looked like sisters!!"

"I really envy the five of them!!"

"Aren't they stunning??"

"Oei!!" Remus shouted waving wildly in front of his three friends.

"What??" James replied impatiently. He jotted back to consciousness.

"Didn't you guys say you wanted to deal with the girls??" Remus said jokingly.

"We did."

"Then??"  
  


"They looked too pretty to be teased." Sirius said. "I never expect my sister or any of the girls to even look anywhere near pretty!!"

"That caught us by surprise." James said, still a little entranced. Peter nodded his head in agreement.

"Let's head down to the Great Hall. We've got a show to watch." Remus said as they climbed out of the portrait hole. There were still some girls and prefects trying to get the boxers off the wall.

"What about your boxers??" James asked Sirius jokingly.

"I wouldn't dare to wear them anymore judging from the way those people are mutilating them." Sirius replied. It was surprising that the boxers had not gave way judging from the way the people had been pulling them for the last hour.

33333333333333333333

"Hi girls!!"

"Hey babes!!"

"Harlow gorgeous!!"

"Wow!!"

"Pretty woman!!"

The five thirteen-year-old Gryffindors walked slowly and confidently into the Great Hall. For the first time in their three years in Hogwarts, they had everyone's attention. Most of the guys greeted them as they walked passed; some of the shyer guys just smiled at them and blushed. The five of them replied with polite good mornings and hellos as well. They smiled at practically everyone they walked passed including the staff. Filch had gave the five girls a stunned look when they greeted him good morning cheerfully. No one had bothered to greet Filch anyway.

That morning topic for breakfast was nothing but the five Gryffindors. By the time they walked into the Great Hall, all eyes were transfixed on them as they walked in gracefully towards their table. The five girls exchanged a confident smile and just ate their breakfast, chattering and giggling happily, totally nonchalant about the stares from both the genders around the hall. Even the Slytherins were ogling at the five girls. Jealous comments from older girls could be heard, especially from the Slytherins.

"Look, there come the boxers guys." Lily whispered to the four girls. They pretended that they did not notice their entry and continued chatting and giggling over their conversation. Lily, Arabella and Stefanie were warning Samantha and Joey to beware of the end-of-year prank.

33333333333333333333

"There they are." James said as he walked into the Great Hall. During their short journey from the tower to the Great Hall, they overheard all the conversations and gossips along the corridors. It was nothing but the five gorgeous girls from Gryffindor.

"Let's join them." Sirius said as he headed towards the table.

"Good morning babes." James told the five girls, flashing his charming Potters' smile.

"I thought we already greeted each other good mornings??" Lily said, concentrating on her eggs more than James.

"Well, we see each other again." James replied charismatically. Their thoughts of revenge on the girls were totally forgotten. Most of the people in the Great Hall were talking about the Marauders and the five girls. It was sort of like the topic that morning.

"So what's with the dolling up today??" Remus asked casually, eying the girls with a different perspective.

"We just felt like it." Lily replied since none of the four girls wanted to reply. If they talk they might just burst out laughing at their prank on the Marauders that morning.

"Let us give a toast to the five gorgeous ladies here." James said, smiling charmingly.

"Why the sudden toast??" Lily asked flirtatiously. The girls exchanged a quick look that none of the guys seemed to notice it. James never did anything nice unless it was an upcoming prank.

"Cheers." James, Sirius, Remus and Peter held up their goblets, waiting for the girls.

"Cheers." The five girls returned their little goblet 'clings' and pretended to drink the orange juice.

Lily however did not take any sip but watch the Marauders throat to check if they were drinking them. _This juice smells strange today. I got this instinct that tells me this is drugged. The last time the guys offered a toast, it consisted of sleepy potion!!_

Unknown to the guys, the five girls only pretended to drink but did not actually drink the orange juice.

"Let's dug in!!" James said cheerfully as he started his first helping for breakfast.

"Yeah!! Delicious!!" Sirius added with unusual enthusisium.

"Last day of school!!" Remus said in a joyful manner.

The five girls exchanged a glance and helped themselves with the food that the Marauders were eating. They believed that something in the breakfast was drugged. But what was it??

"What's going on??"  
  


"Why am I floating??"

"Aaahh!!"

"I'm wearing skirt!!"

"Someone help me!!"

"Good gracious!!"

"Oh Merlin!!"

"What the hel-"

"Someone save me please!!"

"No!!"

"Oh shit!!"

"Please get me down!!"

"I'm afraid of heights!!"

"The Marauders!!"

"Pull me down!!"

The students in the Great Hall started floating up one by one uncontrollably. Those who remained seated looked in amusement. The Marauders started laughing, not hysterically but still laughing.

"What's going on??" Lily asked James knowingly. Judging from the look of the Marauders, it was obvious that this floating frenzy had something to do with them.

"We added a floating potion into all the drinks that were served for breakfast today." James said in between laughter.

"No wonder you guys offered a toast just now." Lily said with understanding.

"Well, how often can anyone be floating about??"

"Why would anyone want to float about??"

"To get the feeling how the Hogwarts ghosts and Peeves feel??"

"If you guys drank the potion, how come you guys aren't floating??"

"The potion must wait for fifteen minutes after consumption to take effect."

"So it's uncontrollable??"

"Of course not."

"Then??"

"They can't float higher than twelve meters off the ground. That was not tested, just stated in the _Moste Potente Potions_"

"Oh, I see."

"Did you girls drink??"

"No." The five girls replied. More and more people were floating up in the ceiling now. The four Hogwarts ghosts were in the Great Hall looking amazed and mingling actively among the floating students.

"One in a lifetime experience." Sirius boosted.

"How long is the effect??"

"Not too long."

"How long exactly??"

"Six hours."

"That's long enough."

"No, it's not."

"It is. How are we heading back later??"

"By Hogwarts Express of course!!"

"How to move around when you're floating about??"

"They'll have their ways."

"How would you know??"  
  


"We're the Marauders. We _just_ know." The girls rolled their eyes at that egoistical comment. With that, the Marauders floated up and left their seats.

"Shall we drink as well??" Lily asked hesitantly.

"Yes." Arabella said confidently.

"One in a lifetime opportunity." Stefanie agreed.

The five girls held up their goblet and 'cling'. They emptied the contents in several glups.

"Any weird feelings??"

"Nope. Let's eat as much as we can. We need the energy for floating."

"Yeah."

"Potter!! Black!! Lupin!! Pettigrew!! Down onto the ground now!!" Professor McGonagall shouted at the entrance of the Great Hall. Sudden silence replaced the previous excited chatters on air.

"We can't!!" James said, grinning. _I doubt she would float up to join us._

"How about you come up and join us??" Sirius told Professor McGonagall. Some of the students who found this question funny gave a small chuckle.

"You still have to clear your boxers off the common room!!" The four guys looked rather embarrassed at the comment Professor McGonagall made but they did not heed anyway. Professor McGonagall looked at the Marauders, and then she turned to look at the rest of the students. She shook her head and left the Great Hall.

"We're going to float soon. I can feel the lightness already."

"Yes. Let's go." The five girls linked their arms as they floated upwards.

"Having fun??"

"Definitely."

"Look at my somersault on air!!" James said as he did several flips on air, attracting quite a lot of attention from the rest of the students.

By the time breakfast finished at nine, nearly all the students were floating around the castle. Some of them had tried to drink more juice so they could remain on air longer.

33333333333333333333

They charmed their trunk and made it small and feather-light and put them in their pockets and then 'accio' them up. The size of their trunk is no bigger nor thicker than the normal credit card.

"No wonder James said that we won't have problems we our trunks."

"Yeah, we've all our belongings with us."

"Let's put a small inscription at the corner of the room."

"Here??" Lily drifted towards the corner of their dormitory above the entrance.

"Let's magick our name on it." Five wands pointed at the wall and their names appeared magically.

"Let's go outdoors."

"This is getting fun."

"I could get used to floating."

"It's nice to be against gravity."

"I wonder what potion did they used."

"Very advance potion definitely."

"Whatever it is, let's have fun."

"Four more hours before the potion wear off."

"Let's float towards Hogsmeade Station, shall we??"

"Let's go, girls!!" The five girls gave a last look at their third year dormitory and left, filled with memories.


	33. The Road Home

**Chapter 32: The Road Home**

"Move faster!!"  
  


"Ouch!!"

"Don't push me out of the window!!"

"C'mon!! Chase me!!"

"It's too crowded!!"

"Move on!!"

"Get in!!"

Everyone was floating into Hogwarts Express from Hogsmeade Station. The directionless students were floating around to board the train. Hogsmeade Station had its moment of chaos once again. But this time the chaos was on mid-air instead of the usual gravity enhanced chaos. It had been only two hours after breakfast; the floating potion had not worn off.

"Let's go to the last compartment!!" James said, floating in front of the queue. The rest of the Marauders and the three girls followed closely behind. Joey and Samantha had gone to join their friends from Ravenclaw after they left their dormitory together.

"Everyone is carrying their trunks in their pockets for once." Lily said, looking at all the empty handed anti-gravity students around.

"It's incredible, isn't it??" James said feeling proud of his idea on the floating potion.

"It's really great. I mean how often can anyone go against gravity. We can even somersault in the air without the fear of falling." Sirius boasted as he did a combo somersault into the compartment.

"Look like an acrobat." Lily joked. Arabella and Remus laughed at her joke.

"What's an acrobat??"

"Someone who does somersaults in the air."

"Muggles can do that without magic??"

"They got to train for years and with wires tied to their waist and netting below for precaution though."

"Well, nothing impressive. I think I can do it better." Sirius boasted.

"I wonder will this potion wear off by the time we reach King Cross."

"I think so. Four more hours before this potion wear off."

"That's good."

"So what can we do besides floating around??"

"Prank the Slytherins."

"It's getting boring, you know."

"Then what brilliant idea do you have up your sleeves??"

"I was thinking something like painting the ceiling of the train."

"Good idea."

"I agree. How can anyone paint the train??"

"Let's sign our names in the ceiling of this compartment."

"Let's not do it magically."

"Why not??"

"Because they can get erased."

"Then what do you suggest??"

"Muggle permanent markers??"

"Accio markers." Arabella had a pocketful of markers. They had once used these markers to draw the hands for each other. It lasted for about three days before it had gotten washed off completely.

"Grab a colour each and sign."

Lily took yellow; Arabella took purple; Stefanie took orange; James took green; Sirius took blue; Remus took Red and Peter took brown. They made a large marking of their name on the ceiling of the last compartment.

"Let's design the rest of the train after this."

"I'm done."

"So am I."

"Let's head out!!"

The seven dropped their markers and with their wands on their hand floated out of the compartment to design the rest of train. After two hours of magical painting, the potions had kind of worn off. They were drifting nearer and nearer to the ground.

After another hour or so, they were down to walking. Suddenly many footsteps of the students could be heard. By now, probably most of the students were down on foot again.

"Let's head back to the compartment."

"I'm sure everyone had noticed our art pieces by now."

"Definitely."

"How abstract looking."

The whole train was filled with graffiti. After the seven of them started designing the corridors of the train, the rest of the students, followed suit. Prefects were unable to stop the entire student population from painting the train. Some of the nicer prefects closed one eye while the more mischievous prefects actually joined in the big graffiti project.

"It's going to be a tough time for the house-elves to wash the train."

"Maybe it's Filch who's going to wash it??" The group started laughing. Argus Filch hated washing and cleaning more than anything. In fact, assigning detentions was the only thing he seemed to enjoy doing.

"Looks like we're reaching King Cross in ten minutes." All of them took out their trunks from their pockets and put at the corner of the ground.

"Let's get our trunks back in shape." Lily muttered the reverse spells and all their minuscule trunks returned to their normal size stacked nicely in the compartment.

Within five minutes, the train slowed down and came to a halt in front of King Cross Station. All the students ran out of the train and cross platform nine and three quarters.

"I found my parents already. I see all of you during the break. Owl me ok." Lily said and gave each girl a hug and waved bye to all of them before running over to her parents pushing her trunk in front.

"Let's get going." James said after seeing Lily off to her parents.

"Master James." Someone greeted politely.

"Hi Ivan." James greeted his family chauffeur happily.

"Let's get going." Ivan, a young man in his twenties, said and started pushing James' trolley towards their family Limousine.

"Bye guys, owl you about the plan soon." James said before turning away, chatting with Ivan.

"I see my mother already. Bye guys. Owl me soon." Remus said and pushed his trolley towards his mother.

"That left us, let's go and see if Mum or Frank is around somewhere." Sirius said and the three started pushing their trolley towards King Cross exit.

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"Dad, mum, Fion?? What a surprise!!" James exclaimed after Ivan opened the door of the limo for him.__

"Hey, brother dear." Fion greeted rather solemnly.

"How's school??" Helen asked in a motherly manner, with not much expression.

"What's going on?? Why are you here to fetch me??" James asked, bewildered.

"James, we've something serious to tell you." Harry said in an expressionless tone.

"What is it??" James asked, afraid of whatever his parents were going to say. This had never happened before.

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"We're going to Taiwan??" Lily exclaimed.

"Just for a holiday, dear."

"But why all the way there??"

"I had to go to Taiwan for two weeks for a business trip." Daryl told Lily. Daryl Evans worked in the sales department for his computer company.

"Can't I stay here??"

"Who's going to take care of you??"

"I can take care of myself."

"You and Petunia would be coming with us. It's just two weeks."

"It's going to be fun."

"We're staying with my old friend back in university."

"They had a daughter the same age with you as well."

"Alright, I will tell my friends about that."

"The flight is tomorrow night."

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"Mummy!!" Stefanie exclaimed she hugged her mother.

"Hey Mum!!" Sirius greeted his mother with a kiss.

"Hi Mrs. Black." Arabella said politely and hugged Mrs. Black. Jeraldine had treated Arabella like another daughter.

"Had a wonderful year??"

"Definitely!!"  
  


"Yup!!"

"Your aunt Joanna is staying with us for the coming month."

"What's bring Aunt Joan here??"  
  


"You'll know soon enough."

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"Mum, is there something wrong??" Remus asked his mother.

"Remus dear, there is something we need to tell you."

"What is it??"  
  


"Wait till we get home. Your father is waiting."

"Why didn't he come then??"

"He needed to settle some things first."

"Ok."


	34. The Gift

**Chapter 33: The Gift**

"Dad?? Mum??" James said as they stepped into their mansion at Godric's Hollow. His parents had a solemn look on them throughout the whole journey home. Even his cheery sister was not at her usual self.

"James, sit down."

"What's going on??"

"There's a few thing we need to tell you now. It's very important."

"First, we want you to know that you're the last descendent of Godric Gryffindor."

James nodded silently. He already guessed that somehow. _I've been practicing his powers in the last year, but I can't tell you that._

"This chain was passed down from my father. Now I'm passing it down to you. I'm supposed to give it to you only after you turn sixteen. But from the situation now, I'm afraid we can't wait for two years." Harry told James as he took out a chain from his neck, putting on a bewildered James' hand.

"What happened, dad??" James studied the pendant.  
  


"I'm sure you've heard of Voldemort." James nodded, confused at how Voldemort is going to affect him directly.

"Everyone in the Potter family had been one of those to contribute to rid the descendents of Salazar Slytherin. You'll have to do that too in the future. Be it Voldemort or someone else. We're afraid that something might happen to you along the way. Voldemort might try to kill you first before he hurt me. He is much more smarter than the dark wizards in the past. Anyway this key, designed by Godric himself, was meant for a purpose. Besides that, it would protect the wearer from any harm. No curses can hit you as long as you're wearing this, not even the Unforgivable Curses. Remember never ever remove it. And only the wearer can take it off. No one else can remove it for you." Harry said, looking at James intensely, looking for any form of rejection. "Being the Minster of Magic, we might be his first few targets. We had already left one million galleons worth of money in a safe in Gringotts under your name in case anything ever happen to us."

"But dad-"

"Listen first. Remember what dad say." Fion told James. He just nodded and continued to see what his parents were going to tell him.

"We've to try every way to protect you from harm. Voldemort would be after you in the near future. It had been said that Godric and Salazar were enemies, so would their descendents." James continued to look at the pendant which did not look as almighty as the way his father had described it to be. 

"What's the key for??"

"I've no idea as well. I had worn it since your grandpa gave it to me when I was sixteen. I had never removed it. Not at all. Well we already had a legal will. The money in your vault is only meant for emergency. If not used, it would be passed to your children. As for this key, I had yet to unlock the mystery behind it." James looked at the key on the platinum chain. It had the word Gryffindor engraved on it vertically. The key felt very ancient. As James clasped the chain on his neck, he could feel a newfound strength rushed over his body. He felt stronger and more confident than before.

"Keep the family heirloom safe and well. Only a true Gryffindor descendent would be able to use it. If anything ever happen to us, both of you must be strong and take care of each other. Don't mourn or get all upset because these things just happen. No one have any control over it." Harry instructed Fion and James. Fion nodded. James looked at his sister and nodded. He was pushed to the real world faster than he wanted to be.

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"Do you know that we're the heir of Rowena Ravenclaw??"

"Erm.. I don't." Sirius replied. _Of course I do. I've been practicing her powers for at least a year._

"Now you do. There's something I want to tell you. Listen clearly. I had left a large sum of money for you at vault seven hundred and eleven. It would be enough to last for both you and Stefanie for a lifetime if anything ever happen to your mother and I. It's for emergency use only."

"Yes, dad. But-"

"No buts. Lister first. Another thing, this silver chain would be yours."

"What is it for??" Sirius looked at the platinum chain with a rather heavy metal rod as a pendant. It had the name Ravenclaw engraved vertically on the miniature rod. The ordinary looking chain did looked and felt ancient. He clasped it around his neck and instantly a gush of strength flow through him. 

"Wear it. It would protect you from harm, including the Unforgivable Curses. It was passed down from your grandpa when I turned sixteen. Evil had been lurking around. I don't think I can wait for another two years before giving it to you. And I want you to wear this all the time. Never ever remove it in your whole life till your child turns sixteen. Do you remember that??"

"Yes, dad."

"Being aurors, both your mother and I would be one of the first in Voldemort's list. You and Stefanie have to take care of each other in case we're gone. Protect yourselves first in case anything ever happen." Jason said in a very serious tone, making sure Sirius had understood every word.

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"Aunt Joan??"

"Stefanie, come here and sit beside me."

"Ok. What happen??"

"I've a necklace for you." Joanna unclasped the silver chain holding a heart-shaped pendant from her neck and placed in Stefanie's hand.

"Wow. It looks beautiful." Stefanie admired it and then wore the necklace to take a look at it in the mirror. Suddenly there was a rush of energy and warmth through her. She was about to undo the necklace and return it.

"Wear it and never remove it. Do you understand??"  
  


"But why??"  
  


"This pendant has an extraordinary power in which I've yet to find out. I meant to give to you only when you turn sixteen, but circumstances make things happen faster than we wanted."

"What's going on??"  
  


"Voldemort, the Dark Lord, have you heard of his evil-doings??"

"Yes."

"Your father, mother and I, being aurors, would be in his list as well. This necklace can protect you from all sorts of curses including the Unforgivable Curses. The only thing is that no one else but the wearer can remove it."

"What about your safety?? You've to be protected as well."

"We're old enough to take care of ourselves. It's you and Sirius that we're worried about."

"But Aunt-"

"No buts, we left a large sum of money in Gringotts for you and Sirius in case anything ever happen to us. It's enough to last the two of you for the whole lifetime. You must not use it unless in absolutely emergency. Do you understand me?? The situation had gotten worst. Protect yourself. You and Sirius are our only hope."

"Yes Aunt." Stefanie's eyes were getting teary as she listened to her favorite Aunt talk.

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"Remus, wear this." Adam instructed his son.

"What is it for??" Remus asked his father, confused at the seriousness of the whole situation. He studied the pendant for a while. It was a plain small rectangular metal, which looked a little like a dog tag with the word Hufflepuff engraved on it horizontally at the back.  
  


"It's a protector. Helga Hufflepuff and created this to protect her descendents from all curses and hexes." Remus saw the look on his father and wore the platinum chain on his neck immediately. Instantly, there was a newfound strength rushed through his body. 

"How come I'm not in Hufflepuff since I'm her descendent??"

"I don't know any more than you do. I was in Gryffindor back then too. I supposed Godric wanted to keep all the three descendents safe and sound in his house. Remember; never ever take your pendant off no matter what happens. Never ever."

"What else am I supposed to know??"

"We left you a sum of money in Gringotts under your name in case anything happen to us. The money would be enough to last you a lifetime. Never ever use the money there unless in emergency."

"Dad, what could happen to you and mum??"

"We'll be in Voldemort's list because Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and especially Gryffindor are the enemies of Slytherin. You're our only descendent, our only hope. Protect yourself. Do you understand the seriousness of this, Remus Jack Lupin??"

"Yes, dad." Remus looked at his father, and then turned to his mother. Both of them had the unusual serious expression on them that he had never seen before.

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"I can't believe you guys have gotten as well." James exclaimed as the three guys gathered together at the Potters' Manor the second day after they got home. Peter, of course, was away to serve Voldemort.

"I think everything come into the picture. Our lives are pre-destinated." Remus added, fiddling the pendant of his chain.

"We're going to be heroes in the magical community." Sirius exclaimed, jumping on James' king-sized bed. His rod pendant swung up and down as he jumped.

"Sirius!!" James and Remus said at a rather annoyed tone. Sirius was never serious, no matter how important or urgent something was. He only stopped after the rod swung up and hit his nose.

"What??"

"Get serious."

"Sirius is here."

"Where's Bell and Stef anyway??"

"At home, doing girls' stuffs."

"Two more weeks before Lily get back." The five of them had gotten an owl post from her the night before, saying that she had to fly to Taiwan with her parents for some business trip.

"Let practice our superpowers!! We might as well as make the best out of this free time!!" James said, feeling rather bored and getting pissed at Sirius for spoiling the spring on his mattress. He just finished polishing his spectacles again. It was just too bored besides eating and Quidditch.

"We're going to have our practice soon!! Why do you want to practice earlier than we're supposed to??" Sirius pouted dramatically. No one else would buy that pout and puppy dog eye of Sirius, definitely not James or Remus.

"If we don't, Dumbledore might take away this privilege from us for the next break." Remus said reasonably.

"That's what I think as well." James said. "You being the third wizard of our year can't even think of something as simple as that."

"That's why I'm behind you two!!" Sirius said. "Don't worry, I'll catch up and be the top someday."

"Yeah, someday." James muttered and 'accio' his comb on the table, thinking of taming his messy his hair a little to see if that was possible. Remus caught the momentum and started concentrating down the timeline. Sirius, realizing his two friends are going to be practicing, followed suit and controlled a packet of sugar quills over from the table so that he can eat as he practice.


	35. Across the Globe

**Chapter 34: Across the Globe**

"Hi Mr. and Mrs. Ho." Lily greeted her parents' friends politely after Petunia. They had just arrived at the local airport and the two adults had come to fetch them to their house in Taiwan.

"Oh my, Lily and Petunia are so big already!! The last time when we meet up was about ten years ago." Mrs. Ho exclaimed after Dawn gave her a big hug.

"Yes, that was ages ago. We're going to trouble you for two weeks, Hank." Daryl said as he gave a slap on his old friend, Mr. Ho's back.

"Let's get going. We can talk on our way." Hank told the four visitors.

The four adults were chatting and reminiscing about their old university times. Petunia and Lily were totally bored, but no matter what, they were not talking to each other. They rather check out the Taiwan streets and people from the black-tinted Limo's window. This went on for another twenty minutes before they started to see some residential estates.

"Girls, we're here!!" Dawn exclaimed as the black Limousine drove through a large gate.

"Finally." Lily muttered under her breath. _Suddenly floo powder sounds first class after all these traveling. My butt is so numb now. _The seats in the car were cushioned and very comfortable but to Lily, who was a hyperactive girl, found it too tedious to sit in the armchair for so long.

Lily stepped out of the posh car and muttered a quick 'thank-you' to the chauffer who opened the door for them. _Wow!! What a big house!!_

"Here we are." Hank told the four visitors.

"Janet, go upstairs and get Yvette to the dining hall." Mrs. Ho instructed one of the ten maids who were standing at the entrance, welcoming all of them.

"Yes, Madam." The maid name Janet quickly left and went up a flight of curved staircase towards the second story and disappeared from view in a corridor.

"C'mon in, I show you your rooms." Mrs. Ho told them while Hank instructed some menservants to carry the luggages from the car.

"Your house seems different everytime we come for a visit." Daryl commented admiringly as they walked up another flight of steps that leads to a different corridor from the one the maid went earlier.

"We renovated three years ago. And the last time when you visited was more than five years ago. It was too long until I can barely remember how long." Mrs. Ho said modestly.

"Iris, you're really lucky to have a husband like Hank." Dawn commented.

"It was because of you that's why I know him in the first place." Iris replied in a sincere manner.

"Well, the four of us should sit together and have a long talk somewhere soon." Dawn said animatedly.

"Definitely. Tonight dinner time would be good." Iris replied and opened a door. "Here's your room."

The room was spectacular. Huge was an understatement. There were large windowpanes at one side of the room overlooking the swimming pool. In front was two armchairs lined with sheepskin with a Persian carpet in front. A king-sized bed was in the middle of the room. At a corner was a multi shelf rack with a twenty-one inch television and hi-fi. The other side of the wall was lined with a four-door wardrobe and a full-length mirror. The room had a cottage style, cozy yet stylish.

"Wow, this is breathtaking!!" Lily said in awed.

"This is such a beautiful room, Iris." Dawn said, too touched for words.

"I know you love countryside style. I never forgot the time when we went on a holiday together." Iris said.

"Neither did I. Thank you so much!! You really shouldn't have." Dawn replied. Just then two menservants came into the room carrying Daryl and Dawn's suitcases.

"C'mon girls, I show you your room. It's two separate rooms next to your parents." Iris told Lily and Petunia who were admiring their parents' room for two weeks. Iris then led the two girls to their respective bedrooms while leaving their parents alone in the guestroom.

"Both of your rooms were be beside Dawn and Daryl. All three rooms are identical, except for your parents room that is catered for two people." Iris said as she smiled kindly of both the girls.

"Thank you very much for your hospitality. It was very kind of you." Lily said sincerely.

"Don't mention it. Dawn had been my good friend for ages." Iris said as she opened the room on the right of her parents' bedroom.

"It's beautiful. Thank you very much!!" Lily said excitedly. The room was equally big, but appeared more spacious with only one armchair and a smaller cupboard. Other than that, everything appeared identical.

"Treat it as your own home, dear. See you at dinner time."

"Thank you so much, Auntie Iris." Lily said before Iris closed the door after her and led Petunia to her room. _This is so beautiful!! Auntie Iris and Uncle Hank must be really rich!! This room is bigger than my living room. It could be compared to James' house, except his is even bigger and nicer. Even Stef' and Remus' house are slightly bigger than this. Wow. They're so lucky. _Lily thought dreamily as she plopped onto the king-sized bed.__

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"I wonder how's Lily doing over at Taiwan now." Stefanie tried to speak underneath her SK II facial mask.

"Well, we can't owl her. She's staying with muggles. They might freak out." Arabella replied practically inaudibly under her mask.

"Just one and half week before we can see her."

"When do we have Dumbledore's training at Potter's Manor??"

"I don't know. He hasn't owl us yet."

"At least we can use magic this holiday."

"We can start practicing now."

"You can, but what about me??"

"You can try reading my mind??"

"I think I already know nearly everything in your mind."

"I don't doubt that."

"We had been doing nothing but all these beauty regime and talking for the last three days."

"Too bad Lily can't be here with us."

"Too bad we can't be there with her."

"That's definitely no way. We don't really want to freak out her hosts. She warned us. They're old friends of her parents."

"We can do something more interesting than this."

"What do you suggest??"

"I don't know. I don't think you need to shop. You already have a walk-in wardrobe that can ensure you never wear the same clothes twice." Arabella said as she moved a little to ease the stiffness on her back.

"This beauty treatments and relaxation stuffs really getting boring after some time."

"Books?? Library?? Swimming?? Gym??"

"We just swam this morning, work out yesterday. We've been spending after mealtimes in the library waiting for food to digest."

"Don't tell me quidditch or something. We've been playing three consecutive days for three afternoons."

"Not that. I'm sure we can think of something."

"Like what??"

"What do you think Lils will suggest if she's here??"

"Movie marathon."

"That's right, we can go for a movie marathon."

"DVD player or cinema??" 

"I don't have DVD player. Cinema of course."

"Alright, let's hit the cinemas tomorrow."

"Yeah. Time for our beauty rest." With that, they drew the curtains of the room and climbed up Stefanie's king-sized spring mattress.

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"I'm getting bored being the chaser." James said as he flew down around with the Quaffle.

"You got to practice your Quidditch!! We're in the house team!!" Remus shouted to James in the air as he hit a Bludger towards James.

"When do you see a game with _one_ chaser and _two_ beaters?!" James yelled back.

"We're just playing our positions!!" Sirius shouted.

"We had been doing this for the last five days consecutively!!" James shouted.

"We can ask the girls but they always have plans. Just yesterday they had their movie marathon!!" Remus replied James.

"Wait till Lily get back and we can play a decent three-versus-three match again." James replied.

"Yeah, one more week." Sirius shouted.

"What a great idea. I might just try for the position of seeker or keeper next year." James shouted back.

"You can't!! What will Andrew and Kenneth say??" Remus pointed out.

"I'm good at all the positions. Don't forget we've all been trained for Quidditch even before we could walk!!" James said.

"But who's going to fill up your Chaser position?? As everyone can see, you were the best Chaser during the tryout last year!! The rest were just too lousy!!" Sirius commented.

"I don't know. I'm telling Kenneth and Andrew when the school term start. If there's really no better Chaser than me, then I shall keep to my position. So right now, let's switch. Both of you be the Chasers and I shall be Keeper."

"No problem dude!!" Sirius said as they forced the Bludgers back into the trunk and kept the beaters.

"Ok, there we go. Take positions!!" James shouted as Sirius and Remus started throwing the Quaffle around and trying to throw into the loops.

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"Wow Yvette, that's a great show although I don't understand what they were talking about." Lily exclaimed. The two girls were watching VCDs in the projection room.

"I like that show too. Sometimes that's what I do with my girlfriends too." Yvette said as she kept her Meteor Garden VCDs back to the original position in the large glass cupboard, which consists of many different VCDs and DVDs.

"I miss my girlfriends back home."

"Well, me too. One of them had take up a part-time job. One went Japan and the other went New York with their parents for some business trip."

"That's why I'm here too."

"Well, I'm really glad we can click so well."

"We just have chemistry between us."

"How I wish I've a sister."

"You won't want a sister like mine."

"I know that. I don't like her either. But I like you."

"I like you too. But after I return to London, how are we going to keep in touch??"

"Letters??"

"I think that's the only way."

"There're other ways actually."

"Like what??"

"Come to my room."

"Okay." The two girls rushed out of the projection room and ran along the brightly lit corridors. Yvette took Lily's hand and led her to her bedroom.

"Come in." Yvette said as she checked the corridor for any sign of movement. Lily wondered in and sat on one of the armchairs. Suddenly something caught her eyes.

"Let me tell you something. I'm actually a w-"

"Witch." Lily completed her sentence, grinning.

"How did you know??"  
  


"Because I'm a witch too!!"

"Wow!! No wonder we've so much magic between us."

"Because we're both unique girls. We're witches!!" Both girls were smiling. The brightest and happiest smile ever since they met each other.

"What school do you attend??" Lily asked.

"Yingde College of Witchcraft and Wizardry in Taiwan. How about you??"

"Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in London."

"I've heard of Hogwarts. I read from some history books before and my grandparents told me before. It was the first Magical School in the world, located in London. It sounded prestigious."

"It is, I supposed. My family was all muggles. So I have no idea except from the books."

"My parents are non-magical, they're not squibs though. My father has the magical blood in him but my grandpa was a muggle. Long family history."

"Better than mine, I supposed."

"So your friends are all from Yingde??"

"Yup."

"I'm sure we can all click if you meet my friends."

"I'm sure you would love my three best friends too!!"

"Well, we might not meet until like ten years later. But we can have owl mail. Much faster than letters."

"E-mail is okay with me if you want." Yvette said as she switched on the computer next to her.

"But in school we can't use electrical appliances, so I can only check my mail in the summer holidays."

"In my school, we've much more freedom, I guess."

"What did your parents tell the others about you being away??"

"They said they send me to a boarding school somewhere far away. During summer holidays, I've to catch up muggle stuffs because I'm expected to work in my dad's and grandpa's company in the future. Thankfully for you all, I can escape from those boring accounts and finance studies for two weeks."

"Well, not too bad. I meant to meet up with my friends this break. But now I can only meet them after I return in three days time."

"That's so fast!!"

"Time always flies when we're having fun."

"How I wish you can come to my school for a visit!!"

"That's not impossible, you know."

"What do you mean??"

"You'll know if I ever make my way to Hogwarts."

"Alright then, can I see the picture of your friends??" Lily asked as she walked over to the nightstand to take a look at the photo in a sweet looking frame. In the picture were four girls and four guys and the house in the background looked like Yvette's poolside.

"This three girls are my best friends, the four guys are my friends. You think they look good and cool from the picture. They're actually like monsters, creating havoc in school nearly daily."

"Sounds like friends that I've back then."

"Imagine if the two group of guys meet."

"I can't imagine."

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"I'm going to miss you so much!!"

"Me too!!" Lily and Yvette were hugging onto each other. Petunia was waiting in the departure hall while their parents were saying goodbyes to one another.

"Lily, it's getting late."

"Coming soon!!" Lily shouted. "I had a great time here. Must send me a message soon." Lily winked.

"I will. I'm back to my horrible holiday life again!!" Yvette said miserably.

"It won't be that bad. I'm just half the globe away from you." Lily said optimistically.

"Lily!!"

"It would be nice if we all live in the same part of the globe together."

"We did. For ten whole days!!"

"LILY!!"  
  


"Ok, I really need to go now. Bye. I'm going to tell my friends about you!!" Lily said and waved goodbye to Yvette, thanked Mr. and Mrs. Ho with a handshake and run to join her parents in the departure hall. She turned and gave a last look and wave to Yvette before disappearing from view.


	36. What A Break!

**Chapter 35: What A Break!!**

"I swear I would hate summer breaks if this is what we're going to get from this year onwards!!" Arabella whined. The three girls just finished their five-hour long training session at the Potters' Manor. This had been going on for the last two weeks, which commenced on the week after Lily returned from the trip.

"Don't ever say that. Holidays are the best time of the year." Lily looked at Arabella in pretended horror.

"Of course you'll say that Lils, because you're not using your powers like us!!" Stefanie complained, massaging her temples. Lily, being a healer, was not able to practice her powers at all. Dumbledore had asked her to check if she had any other power than healing but she had proven that she did not.

"I've been working out in Potters' gym for five hours!! I walked like five kilometers on the treadmill and don't know how many times I had lifted those dumbbells!!" Lily whined as her muscles were all aching rather badly. She had been working out in the gym consecutively for two weeks as it helped to build up stamina. Dumbledore made her exercised to her limit before allowing her to stop. In the first few days she spent three hours in the gym, but now she had to practice for five hours like the rest of them.

"I don't mind a switch sometimes. I'm mentally tired." Stefanie said sleepily, nearly dozing off.

"I'm physically tired and mentally drained!!" Lily complained as she laid in the middle of the king sized bed, arms and leg stretched out. The bed was rather huge and the three girls have ample space on it.

"My mind is too filled with information. Been having some premonitions lately." Arabella sighed as she closed her eyes, thinking.

"What kind of premonitions??" Lily asked, concerned for her best friend.

"Death signs." Arabella whispered. Lily and Stefanie turned to face Arabella, looking horrified.

"Did you tell Dumbledore??" Lily whispered.

"I did. I told him secretly. I didn't want to freak everyone out. I'm not trying to keep it a secret or what. But I just don't want my friends to be paranoid." Arabella said as she turned to look at the ceiling.

"Whose death??" Lily asked silently. Stefanie had the similar terrified look.

"I don't know. Someone close I think. I didn't get to see the faces."

"No wonder you had this distant look on you lately." Lily said as she touched the arm of her friend.

"Yes. I had these premonition since we gathered here together." Arabella said quietly. It had been too much of an ordeal for her to deal with alone. Finally she decided to share it with her two best friends.

"Oh, Bell." Lily gave her friend a hug and the three girls huddled together for a hug.

"I think we better sleep soon." Stefanie said. It was an hour passed midnight and the three girls were still rather awake considering they needed to be up and about rather early the next day.

_This is going to be a horrible break. I dreamt of deaths. But whose?? The scene stops whenever I try to see their faces. I had been seeing that for the last three weeks. This is really scary. But I've to be strong for my friends. They're my only pillars of strength. Mum?? Dad?? Where are you?? _Arabella thought as she looked at the wardrobe in front blankly.

_Who could those be?? Please don't let that happen to Mum or Dad or Aunt Joan or any of my friends and their loved ones. Please don't!! At least I've two best friends. Please don't let anything happen to them either!! I think the one who is suffering the worst is Bell. This is bad. I'm so tired. _Stefanie thought as she fiddled with the crystal heart shaped pendant on her neck and tried to drift to sleep.

_I think I'll probably be the one. Afterall Voldemort hates muggles and muggle-borns. And that's me!! I've checked and confirmed that I'm definitely their daughter. I hope nothing would happen to Mum and Dad. I won't mind if it's Petunia who die. Oh my god. How can I think of that!! _Lily thought as she sighed. Death is definitely a horrible thought.

None of the three girls slept well that night as they dreamt of all sorts of death signs that could happen to their beloved.

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"We can give Voldemort a nickname!!" James suggested suddenly as they were eating their dinner around the large table in Potter's dining hall.

"What do you suggest then??" Lily asked, eating a whipped potato with brown sauce.

"We can pool our ideas together. Maybe by giving him a nick he might just sound funny." James said and started eating his potato wedges. Potatoes were their main dish for lunch that afternoon because they need all the carbohydrates that they could for the practice in two hours time.

"How about Voldie??" Lily suggested.

"Moldy Voldy??" James added.

"V-Lo??" Arabella said, thinking of someone by the name Jennifer Lopez.

"Volkie??" Sirius suggested.

"Volmy??" Stefanie spoke up.

"Volcy??" Remus said. Everyone was laughing after each suggestion made.

"Volka??"

"Voila??"

"Volie??"

"Violet??"

"Volty??"

"Morty??"

"Monty??"  
  


"Moolie??"

"Mooshy?"

"Monkey??"

"Mouldy??"

"Smelly??"

"Stinky??"

"Eeky??

"Yucky??"

"Shitty??"

"Ditty??"

"Dimmy??"

"Dim-wit??"

"Dummy??

"Dusty??"

"Volsty??"

"Volly??"

"Volley??"

"Vortex??"

"Volcano??" James suddenly shouted.

"Volcano sounded good." Lily seconded James' suggestion.

"Ok, so let's eat more and train harder to fight the volcano!!" James said excitedly. Nicknaming Voldemort as Volcano definitely lightened the lunching mood tremendously.

"Cheers to the defeat of Volcano!!" Sirius shouted and offered a toast of Sprite in his goblet. The five followed and 'cling' their goblet with one another cheering. After gulping down several sips, they continued eating their potato lunch. One and half more hours before they would start their training.

33333333333333333333

"Isn't Dumbledore such a sweetie by letting us off for the last two weeks before school term start??" Lily said excitedly as the six of them walked along Diagon Alley to shop for the school stuffs together. After much begging and pleading, Dumbledore had allowed them to have a decent break from all those practices.

"I don't think Dumbledore would appreciate us very much for calling him a sweetie." James commented at the ecstatic Lily.

"Look at that cat!! It's so sweet!!" Arabella pointed at a thick and fluffy ginger furred cat at the counter in _Magical Menagerie_. The three boys and two girls turned to take a look at the cat through the glass panes.

"It's erm.. nice." Lily said, looking at the squashed and grumpy face of the ginger cat.

"Not too bad." Stefanie added, trying to find the sweetness in the bow-legged cat.

"You call that sweet?!? It looked like a tiger!!" Sirius exclaimed and Arabella punched him on the arm.

"It's rather huge for a cat." James commented as he looked at the cat that was looking out of them, as if it knew that the six of them were talking about it.

"I think that's a matter of opinion." Remus said calmly, looking at the pissed of Arabella.

"I think it's gorgeous!!" Arabella said.

"No comments." Lily said, as they continued walking down Diagon Alley.

"We need to head to the apothecary to get the potions ingredients." James said. They walked into the shop where there was a strong stench. They handed the shopkeeper the list and he gathered six sets of everything for them while they went out of the shop to breathe in some fresh air. After the shopkeeper had packed everything for them in six separated packs, they paid and left quickly.

"Flourish and Blotts next." Lily said as she looked through the last at the few books that she needed for their subjects. The six of them had taken the same combination so they could do and copy one another homework. After less than fifteen minute in the shop, the boys hurried the girls to leave the shop.

"We're done with our shopping right??" James asked as he browsed through his list quickly.

"Books. Checked. Potions ingredients. Check. We need new uniforms." Lily said looking through her list. Her uniform had gotten a little old and short for the sleeves.

"Erm, we've tailor made uniforms for us. We go with you two to _Madam Malkins_." James suggested. James, Sirius, Stefanie and Remus had at least five new sets of uniforms each year, tailor-made with the best materials. The seamstress came once a year to take their measurements in the last week of their summer break and get about five suits of uniform ready within a week.

"Alright then, thanks guys." Lily said as they headed over to _Madam Malkins Robes for All Occasions_. Lily and Arabella quickly got their measurements and the uniforms were fitted.

"Let's go to _Florean Ice- Cream Parlor_." James suggested. The guys winked at one another.

33333333333333333333

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO LILY!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!!" The five of them shouted so loudly that everyone in Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlor could hear them. Some of the more spontaneous customers clapped along.

"Oh my gosh!! This is so embarrassing!!" Lily said as her five friends continued singing the birthday song another time.

"Blow your candles!!"

"Make a wish!!"

"Ok, thank you so much!!" Lily closed her eyes and clamped her hands together and wished. _I wish the six of us could be friends forever and ever. I wish my parents would always be there for me!! I wish them happiness!! _Lily opened her eyes and blew the fourteen candles on the chocolate ice cream cake. "Thank you so much for the surprise!!"

"It was Bell's and Stef's idea, we just carry it out!!" James said, grinning. The candles relit again.

"What candles did you use??" Lily asked suspiciously.

"Re-lightable candles from Zonkos!!" The three guys exclaimed.

"The ice cream is going to melt!!" Stefanie said as the sideway of the cake started to look watery.

"Get the candles out!!" Arabella told Lily excitedly. Lily blew the candles once again and once again, it automatically re-lighted. After five times, the flames seemed to die off a little.

"I'm getting breathless. Can't you all help??" Lily said, panting a little. _I'm so glad that they remembered my birthday._

"It's your birthday!! Take the candles out." James said as he lifted the cake a little slanting towards Lily. She started taking the candles out one by one.

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!" The five shouted as James smashed the ice-cream cake onto Lily's face.

"AAHHH!!" Lily shrieked behind the cream-covered face.


	37. Dramatic Entrance

**Chapter 36: Dramatic Entrance**

"I've an announcement to make first. There'll be eight exchange students coming from an Asian Wizarding School to join us for a year. I hope all of you would make them feel welcome. Ok, that's all for now." Dumbledore said to Professor McGonagall and he returned to his seat at the staff table. "Please proceed on with the Sorting." _I wonder why Old Freddy would want to send his students here for a year. This is so unlike him. Well, they would definitely make things more interesting than what already is._

"I wonder who new students are. This sure sounds interesting." Lily said as she watched the first-years being sorted. _I hope its Yvette and her friends._

"It could be the witch that you had been talking about ever since you came back from Taiwan." James suggested.

"That would be wonderful!! But how come we didn't see any new students in the train??" Lily pointed out.

"We were all hiding in our compartment, you see. Didn't you realize that it was kind of _smelly_ outside??" James said as the group of seven started laughing at their minor prank. The seven of them had modified the traditional Zonkos' dungbombs with some sort of magical timer. They went to King Cross unusually early and were the first few to enter the train. The girls had pretended to have trouble moving their trunks, which had been magically weighed down, up the train. This had caused a short jam at the main entrance to allow the Marauders to plant the dungbombs underneath the seats in record time. At eleven-eleven a.m. sharp, all the timed dungbombs exploded at the same time, sending students flying around the compartments. The windows in all the compartments except theirs had been magically locked as well. One reason was to prevent student from flying out from the explosion, another was to keep the stench in for a longer period. This had caused a rather serious shook on the train as it had started accelerating. They had generously left the last compartment dungbomb-free for them.

"I can understand that actually." Lily said, laughing as well. The train was smelly for hours because the windows were not large enough to aerate the whole train totally.

"Where are the new students then??" James asked, scrutinizing the Great Hall for any unfamiliar faces.

"No clue. Who knows they might be some gorgeous babes??" Sirius said eagerly as he scouted around the Great Hall, earning a smack on the head from Arabella.

"It's either they're still outside the hall or they're not here yet in the first place." Lily said, looking over at the front of the hall. Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall were having a small discussion at the staff table.

"Are they late or something??" James said. "The food won't be served until all the students are sorted!!"

"I'm famished!!" Sirius whined.

"You ate the whole cart and you're hungry!! We ought to be even more hungry!!" Arabella exclaimed, giving him the typical pretended horrified face, which everyone was too used to it.

"There weren't much stuffs on the cart anyway. Besides we're fourteen and growing boys." James added. Sirius had been pretended to be suffering from hunger during the Sorting Ceremony for three years consecutively and it was like a routine to them.

"Looks like the exchange students are not here yet. So let's the feast begins!!" Dumbledore announced after five minutes of clueless waiting. Everyone was looking at his or her plates and goblets expectantly when the food just popped up. The first-years looked amazed at the spread and the way food was served while the second-years and above just ate hungrily, helpings after helpings.

"Look!!"

"They're gorgeous!!"

"The third girl looks sweet!!"

"Who are they??"

"The exchange students??"

"What an entrance!!"

"Who did they think they are??"

"They're pretty!!"

"Probably just brainless bimbos."

"Wow!!"

Four girls entered the Great Hall after ten minutes to the beginning of the feast. They walked in confidently towards the front of the Great Hall.

"Here come our exchange students." Dumbledore announced as he paused eating.

"Punctuality is important in Hogwarts." Professor McGonagall told them sternly.

"We're very sorry about that. We drove a muggle car here because we missed the train at King Cross. There was some delay at the portkey station in Taiwan." The first girl replied politely. Professor Porky turned to look at the girls as if he just heard someone calling his name.

"You could have sent us an owl." Professor McGonagall said.

"We did thought of that. But we didn't know who to address and what to say. Moreover we did not want to trouble anyone for our lateness." The first girl replied.

"The four of you will get a detention each for being late." Whispered murmurings could be heard around the hall. There are definitely not much people who would receive their detentions even before sorting into their respective houses yet.

"We understand that it's against the rules to be late and causing the unnecessary trouble. We accept the detentions." She replied courteously.

"At Hogwarts, you don't have a choice whether to accept detentions or not. You'll _need_ to go for your detentions once they're assigned to you." Professor McGonagall said strictly.

"Yes, Professor." The four girls chorused.

"Where is the other four who were supposed to be here??" Dumbledore asked from the back.

"We've no idea that there're four more students coming." The first girl replied, looking confused. The other three girls behind her looked equally bewildered because they thought they were the only four who were sent here.

"There would be four more students, no mistake." Dumbledore said.

"Anyway we shall proceed on with the sorting. Ho, Yvette." Professor McGonagall read from her scroll. The girl name Yvette walked up to her. She instructed Yvette to sit on the chair and she placed the Sorting Hat on her. Within one minute, the hat shouted "RAVENCLAW!!"

"Muye, Shannie" The second girl went up and the hat lingered for a minute before shouting out "RAVENCLAW!!"

"Teng, Jennifer" The girl who spoke to Professor McGonagall went up and sat on the stool. The hat shouted out "RAVENCLAW!!"

"Xiao, Yvonne" The hat shouted almost immediately upon the placement of the hat. "RAVENCLAW!!"

All the four girls were sorted to Ravenclaw. Some older students in that table made space for the four girls. The boys around the Hall looked at the four girls admiringly because they were pretty. Most of the Ravenclaw guys tried to talk to the girls but they were mingling with the Ravenclaw girls instead.

"Yvette!!" Lily shouted across her table and got out from her seat.

"Lily!!" Yvette turned and saw Lily, both girls ran towards each other and hugged. Some of the people were amazed that Lily and Yvette were acquainted.

"I'm so glad you made it here!!" Lily said happily.

"Me too!! Glad to see you here!!" Yvette replied, ecstatic.

"I think we better get back to our dinner. We can talk tomorrow."

"Too bad we aren't in the same house."

"That's why. I see you around ok." Lily said as both girls returned to their respective seats at their house table, with their backs facing each other.

"So she's the Yvette that you had been talking about." James asked, eyeing the girl. "Not bad, pretty and sweet looking. I think the girl Shannie looks more fun although not as pretty as the other three."

"I think the girl name Jennifer is better. She looks more confident and appealing." Sirius said as he munched his food and looked at the girl blatantly at the same time.

"I prefer the girl name Yvonne. She looks shy and cute." Remus said, taking glances at the shy girl at the next table.

"They're all so gorgeous. I don't remember them looking that pretty in the photos that Yvette showed me at her house." Lily said, feeling happy and envious at Yvette and their friends.

"We can get to know them tomorrow. There's one whole year." Stefanie said, looking at the Ravenclaw table. The girls seemed to be their dinner as chatting with the girls appeared to be the priority over the food.

"Let's eat. Otherwise the feast might drag on. Who knows when the other four might be coming??" Arabella pointed as she continued her dinner. Most of the people had resumed their dinners and the usual chatter slowly built up. The girls nevertheless were being the limelight in the hall.

WwwHHHHOOOooOSSSssssHHhhhh!!

"What's that??"

"Who're they??"

"Those are the newest broomsticks!!"

"The Lasers!!"

"Wow!!"

"Must have been expensive!!"

"The exchange students, I supposed??"

"Look at their speed!!"

"Look at their clothes!!"

"The broomsticks are fast!!"

"Look, the newest broomstick!! The Laser series!!" James said excitedly. The four broomsticks had flew in from the opened entrance of the Great Hall and whizzed around the high ceiling.

"Laser?? Aren't they supposed to be muggle stuffs??" Lily asked, looking at the four whizzing broomsticks on top of them.

"Why did they name broomsticks Laser then??" Arabella asked, looking upwards like everyone else in the Great Hall.

"I don't know. It's international considering it's the first series of Laser broomsticks." Stefanie said. She did not know as much as the guys on broomsticks and quidditch in this case.

"Those broomsticks are supposed to be compared to the speed of light." James replied knowingly. His parents had yet to buy him the newest broomstick for the year and he was still carrying his good old Thunderblot.

"It has a better acceleration and instant braking system. Great for sharp turns and the stunts." Sirius added, admiring the broomsticks more than the people on it.

"These broomsticks were Asia's products but had gone international within three months of launching." Remus said. Most of the guys appeared to be admiring the broomsticks since the people on them were too blurred.

"Can you four please come down now??" Dumbledore shouted up the ceiling. The four broomsticks stopped in midair and landed downwards in a blast.

"Good evening ladies and gentlemen." Three of the guys greeted everyone in the hall, bowing towards the staff table, with their broomsticks held up on their right.

"FLOWER-BOYS??" Someone in the hall had exclaimed kind of loudly.

"So could you please explain why did the four of you make such a disturbing entrance??" Professor McGonagall asked fiercely.

"We just want to make a _dramalic _entrance." The first guy in wavy hair said. Someone hissed behind him muttering something. "I mean _dramatic_ entrance. It was pointless coming the normal way."

"So why is it pointless to come in the normal way??" Professor McGonagall asked, annoyed at the attitude of the four guys.

"We do things the way we want. But we'll still get things done in the end." The first guy answered. Two of the guys were busily winking at the ogling girls while the third guy was looking nonchalant about what was happening.

"Detention for a week for all the disturbances."

"We live for that." The first guy replied. Professor McGonagall looked positively steaming.

"Sort into your houses first."

"How??"

"When I call your name, come up and sit on this stool."

"Ok." The four guys seemed to looked puzzle at their sorting method.

"Daoming, Shannon" Professor McGonagall announced from the same scroll. There was some excitedly chattering around the hall as the guy walked up and sat on the stool.

"Why are you putting that dirty thing on my hair?? It's styled, you know." The guy named Shannon said.

"This is the sorting routine. I assure you that it won't mess up your hair." Professor McGonagall replied impatiently. "HUFFLEPUFF!!"

"Huaze, Lewell" The quiet and expressionless guy went up and sat down on the stool as Professor McGonagall placed it over his hair. "HUFFLEPUFF!!"

"Meizuo, Malcolm" The guy walked up, turning back to the student population and started waving at some girls.

"Please take a seat." Malcolm sat down while continuing his waving frenzy with some blushing girls.

"HUFFLEPUFF!!"

"Ximen, Xavier" The guy winked at some girls causing little shrieks from girls in various groups.

"HUFFLEPUFF!!"

"Now we can resume to our dinner, hoping for no more interruptions." Dumbledore said in an amusing tone.

The four guys sat at the corner of the Hufflepuff table by themselves. Girls were ogling and walking up to them as they tried to eat. It appeared to be a normal practice for them to be surrounded by girls that they continued eating as the rest of female population bombarded them one after another.

"Don't you think the guy named Shannon looked so cool and cute??" Lily asked Arabella and Stefanie who were watching the guys amidst the crowd of girls.

"I prefer Xavier, he looked much more friendly as compared to the rest." Arabella said. The four Hufflepuffs appeared to be fully blocked by the overfriendly Hufflepuff female population.

"I like the mysterious and calm Lewell though. I think he looks great!!" Stefanie said. The four guys Hufflepuffs had totally disappeared from their view. The three girls continued eating and talked about the new guys.

"What's with the guys?? I think they looked gay!!" James said, looking at the three excitedly chattering girls next to him.

"I think they look great!! You guys are just jealous!!" Lily retorted.

"Who?? We?? Jealous?? Nah!!" Sirius replied dismissively.

"Are you sure?? Someone else, for once, was getting more attention than the Marauders." Lily joked.

"We don't mind. They're just pretty faces. Unlike us." Remus replied.

"You guys sure you don't mind??"

"Of course."

"At least you guys have girls to ogle and we have guys."

"I wouldn't dream of looking at those guys. They look sissy!!"

"I think they're pretty cool."

"I think so too."

"That's you girls only. Not us."

"Well, let's ignore the immature guys."

"Food more important."

"I still think Shannon look cute."

"Lewell!!"

"Xavier!!"

"Whatever!!" Lily said as they continued eating and talking the four Hufflepuffs. The topic of the evening, and probably the rest of the week would just be nothing but the exchange students.


	38. Breakfast Time

**Chapter 37: Breakfast Time**

"Hey Yvette!!" Lily called out as she, Arabella and Stefanie walked towards the Great Hall together for breakfast. The four Ravenclaw girls were surrounded by some boys and looked relieved when Lily, Arabella and Stefanie appearance.

"Hey Lily!!" Yvette called out from the middle. She turned to her friends to say a few words. The three other girls smiled warmly at Lily and her friends and walked towards them.

"Let me introduce you my friends." Lily said warmly. "This is Stefanie Black and Arabella Figg." Arabella and Stefanie said a friendly hello to all of them.

"Hi, I'm Jennifer Teng. Eve had talked a lot about you." Jennifer held out her hand for a handshake. With long wavy waist-length dark brown hair and fair complexion, standing 1.6meters, she looked extremely pretty and mature for a fifteen year old.

"Shannie Muye here. Hello. Eve had talked us all the way here in Scotland." Shannie followed and held out her right hand as well. The petite looked pretty in her waist-length raven black straight hair, which was pulled into two plaids.

"Hi, Yvonne Xiao. Nice to meet you." Yvonne said shyly as she held out her hand as well. She had shoulder-length straight dark brown hair. She looked really sweet and adorable with her big hazel eyes, which made her looked a little doll-like.

"Lils had talked a lot about you too, Yvette. Really glad that you all managed to make it here." Stefanie said sincerely as the seven girls started to walk towards the Great Hall.

"We nearly couldn't make it because we were all waiting for Eve. She's quite a last minute person." Jennifer joked and Yvette gave her a friendly punch on her arm.

"Well, Shannie forgot some stuffs and we had to make another returned trip." Yvette added and this time Shannie gave her a friendly punch on the arm.

"So by the time we make it to school to the Portkey room. We were a little late." Shannie added sheepishly.

"You all don't go school by train??" Stefanie asked, bewildered.

"We drive muggle cars to school because most of us are half-blood. The school has a place something like the car park for our cars." Jennifer said.

"Your parents actually allow you all to travel half the world to come here for a year??" Lily asked, rather amazed at that fact.

"It wasn't much problem for the three of us except for Von. Anyway with our power of persuasion, and the promise of taking care of one another, they had given in finally." Jennifer grinned.

"Want to join us for breakfast at the Gryffindor table??" Lily invited the four girls.

"Great!! The guys had been bugging us the whole night. That was so irritating!!" Yvette said. The seven girls went towards a corner of the Gryffindor table and settled nicely.

"I'm sure this happens when you all are back in school right??" Arabella asked as she buttered her toast.

"Yes. Guys are just so dense. We're simply not interested in those brainless gits." Shannie said and helped herself with the omelets.

"No boyfriends or whatsoever??" Lily asked, eating her salt and pepper scrambled egg.

"Nope. But we've a little crushes on those flower boys." Jennifer said in between sips of milk.

"Why do you call them flower boys??" Stefanie asked in amusement.

"They nicknamed themselves flowers when they were in kindergarten!! They're the most sort-after guys in school but I don't think they're anywhere more special than other guys besides their looks." Shannie commented.

"I didn't know any decent guy will ever identify themselves near anything flowery!!" Lily exclaimed. The girls started giggling.

"I think you all should be identified as the flower girls instead. I think you all are really pretty." Arabella said sincerely.

"Thanks, but we're not as egoistical as those guys. We're happy being like this." Yvette said modestly.

"Hogsmeade weekend coming up in two Saturdays time. Do you want to go together??" Lily asked.

"Definitely!!" The four girls replied together.

"Wah!! How come you're so enthusiastic about that??"

"Because at least ten guys had came up to ask us out to this place call Hogsmeade Village since the notice was put up in the common room."

"We don't want to go separately."

"I suggested to them and we thought of asking you about it."

"Jun had asked us if we want to join them but we decided to ask you first."

"The Ravenclaw girls are really nice. Our two roommates are good friends with them.

"They told us about the girls from various houses as well. I don't think the Slytherins sounds nice."

"They're not!! Just be careful. One or two girls from them are okay. But most are not. The guys are definitely a no-no!!"

"That's what Jun, Eva, Mabel and Pepper told us as well. I guess they're universally unlikable."

"Definitely. They despised half-blood and muggle-borns."

"So superficial!!"

"No way!!"

"That's the Slytherins."

"We must do something about that!!"

"But what??"

"We always come up with brilliant ideas!!"

"Well, prank of the year then."

"No, it would be the prank of the century!!"

"Sounds good!!"

"Hey, you girls are here for barely twenty-four hours and we're talking about pranks even before you serve your first detentions!!"  
  


"That's us!!"

"Let our brain juices flow. I'm sure we can come up with something next week."

"Let's keep this a little secret!!"

"We might need help though!! Let's see what happens and what we can come up with!!"

"Sounds good!!"

"It's brilliant indeed!!"

"Miss Evans, Miss Black and Miss Figg, here's your timetable." Professor McGonagall walked over to them and eyed the four Ravenclaws. "I think you girls ought to get your timetables too. The first lesson is starting in thirty minutes time." With that, Professor McGonagall continued walking down the Gryffindor table.

"I think we ought to get going." Jennifer said as the four girls stood up, starting to head back to the Ravenclaw table.

"Hey, we're having our first lessons together. Charms by Flitwick." Lily told them.

"That's great!! We see you at the Charms classroom then." Yvette exclaimed. "Let's go and get our stuffs." The girls waved goodbye and left the Great Hall after obtaining their timetables.

"They're really nice, aren't they??" Lily asked Arabella and Stefanie.

"Yup. They're really cool and not the arrogant or proud kind of girls." Stefanie commented.

"They could be since they're really drop-dead gorgeous. Look at the bulging goldfish eyes of the guys in the Great Hall." Arabella commented. Most of the guys looked at the four girls until they left the Great Hall before turning back to do what they were doing. The four of them did not dressed fancifully nor did any make up. They were natural beauties, exuding grace and elegance as they walked.

33333333333333333333

"Look at those guys. Who did they think they are??" Sirius commented as they eat their breakfast together. They had come in late and had not join the girls for breakfast. Now they were watching the four Hufflepuff exchange students being surrounded by girls from Hufflepuff and Slytherin.

"I think only two of the guys are flirting like no tomorrow while they other two are not even concern anything more than their toast." James commented. There were four girls surrounding Xavier who appeared to be saying some joke, which made the girls burst into hysterical laughter. There were three girls surrounding Malcolm, buttering his toast and feeding him breakfast and even feeding him. The other two were barely talking and eating their breakfast quietly with at least ten girls surrounding the two of them trying to strike up a conversation.

"I wonder how could they eat with the girls flocking around them. I think it's nauseating. Look, seventh-year. Eeeww!!" Remus commented as the seventh-year Hufflepuff girls settled in the midst of the crowded bench. Peter was busy concentrating on his breakfast to be bothered by the four new guys.

"Well, what so good about them anyway??" Sirius complained, sulking. He was one great attention seeker and he enjoyed being in the limelight.

"They're probably just pretty faces that's why they're in Hufflepuff and not Gryffindor. Why don't you just eat your breakfast? We only have five more minutes before lesson starts." James pointed out as he ate his third helping for breakfast.

"Sirius, you better eat before you complain hungry during the lesson." Remus suggested. Sirius often complained being hungry. Unlike Peter, Sirius pretended to whine when he was hungry.

"We can go and find Scooby anytime."

"Not when we're in the middle of some lesson."

"Whatever." Sirius said as he stuffed his face with toast and eggs and sauages.

"Potter, Black, Lupin, Pettigrew. Here's your timetable." Professor McGonagall handed out their timetable and proceeded with the rest of the table.

"Charms with Ravenclaws first." James said. "We can try to get to know those Ravenclaw girls if you want."

"Argh, look at what's after Charms!!" Sirius commented as he wrinkled his nose in disgust.

"Herbology with Hufflepuffs." Remus said. "Herboloy is definitely going to be more interesting and fun this year."

"I can't help but have to agree with you." James said, grinning with Remus.

"Why would it be interesting with those four??" Sirius asked blankly. Peter looked confused as well.

"You'll get what we mean by fun and interesting soon enough." James said calmly and continued eating his breakfast.


	39. The Crystal Drop

**Chapter 38: The Crystal Drop**

"Miss Figg, can I have a moment with you after class??" The Defense Against Dark Arts professor told Arabella the moment when Lily, Arabella and Stefanie entered the classroom. They were the first three to enter the class, as it was ten more minutes before the lesson begin.

"Ok." Arabella replied, looking rather confused.

"What's going on??" Lily asked Arabella, concern all over her face. Arabella had never been the kind to be called up by a professor for no reason at all.

"I've no idea."

"Did you do something wrong??"

"I'm pretty sure I done nothing wrong in her class."

"I doubt you ever offend her either."

"I'm not even near the top student in DADA, it's Sirius."

"Maybe it got something to do with Sirius??"

"But why me??"

"We don't know."

"Weird things have been happening."

"I'm not too worried about meeting her privately like Porky."

"She's really nice and everything."

"But she always has a sad and lonely look when not in classes."

"I think she wears contact lens."

"Why did you say that??"

"Sirius said so. I overheard them talking about her eyes before."

"What about her eyes??"

"She has purple eyes, just like you."

"Oh my god!! Why didn't you tell me??"

"I don't think she wants the whole world to know. We didn't want you to let your imagination run wild."

"Like what?? She could be related to me??"

"Partly. I mean not many people have purple eyes. Usually only seers do."

"Well, I guess I might ask her about that later."

"Class, please settle down and turn to page eighty three of the textbook." The professor instructed after most of the students had entered the class.

"We talk later." Arabella said as she tried to concentrate on the lesson. _I wonder why Professor Plain wants to see me. Hmm.. She does look old enough to be a mother for a fourteen-year-old. She would make a great mother too._

_Bell!!_

_Huh?? Stef??_

_Don't let your imagination run wild!!_

_Okok. I try._

_You better. We didn't want to tell you in the first place because of this._

_Alright. I pay attention okay??_

_That's better._

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"Professor Plain, what do you want to see me for??" Arabella went up to the professor after the lesson. Lily and Stefanie had gave her thumb-up signs and left with the rest of the class. They promised to be waiting for her in their dormitory and go for dinner together.

"Come with me to my office." Professor Plain said kindly, clearing the classroom magically before leaving. Professor Plain, a tall and slender lady in her thirties, was one of the nicest professors who award house points whenever possible and rarely deduct any house points. Being pretty and well liked by most of her students for her patient teachings and understanding, she had attracted several suitors in Hogwarts. One of them was none other than Professor Porky himself.

"Ok." Arabella said. _Maybe I can try to read her mind._

_Please don't read my mind._

_Professor??_

_That's right, Arabella._

_How did you know I'm a mind reader??_

_From your eyes._

_You're a mind reader too??_

_Yes. I'm like you._

_You mean both of us have similar powers??  
  
_

_Something like that._

_Can't we talk here??_

_We can't. There's no privacy here. Let's head back to my office._ With that, they stopped communicating telepathically. They walked towards Professor Plain's office in some sort of understanding silence.

"Come in please." Arabella walked into her office. It was filled with muggle paintings and scenic pictures. "Take a seat and make yourself comfortable." Professor Plain went to pour some chocolate from a container into a cute mug and gave it to Arabella.

"Thank you." Arabella said and took a sip. "It tastes great!!"

"My mum taught me how to make the nicest chocolate when I was younger." Professor Plain smiled and looked at Arabella, studying her closely.

"So, Professor Plain, what did you want to see me for??" Arabella asked, still confused at the sudden meeting. She was feeling at ease with Professor Plain for some reason or another. But then again, most students thought Professor Plain was rather motherly.

"I've something for you. Take out your hand." Professor Plain undone the glittering necklace on her neck and put in on Arabella's palm.

"Erm.. this is.." Arabella asked in confusion, looking at the shiny jewellery.

"This is known as the Crystal Drop. Look closely at the crystal, do you notice that it is lightly purple in colour." Arabella took a closer look at the pendant droplet. It glittered in the sunlight showing slight lavender shade.

"Yes. But why??"

"This Crystal Drop is meant for people with powers exclusively for people like you and me. I don't exactly know how to define people like us. But we're bound to lead a lonely life. It's our fate."

"What do you mean??"

"Both of us have the power of premonition and ability to read minds."

"Yes." Arabella still had a confused look on her, holding the crystal on her hand and admired the exquisite smoothness of the droplet.

"This is some sort of protector. It is passed down generations to generations. But I've no daughters or whatsoever, so I couldn't pass on. I had noticed your unusual power since the first day of school. This necklace was made for a purpose, which I've yet to discover. I had this premonition and I've to pass this to you before it's too late."

"What do you mean??"

"The rising Dark Lord, Voldemort, would gather people like you and those who are blessed with supernatural magical powers to his side. This necklace can protect you from all sorts of evil and curses. It might even reflect the curses at times, which I've no idea why it doesn't happen all the time. You'll be one of the most important people in the wizarding world someday and I know I've to give this to you soon. If not for the premonition, I'll only give this to you after your sixteenth birthday."

"What about you??"

"I don't need it anymore. One important thing about this is that only the wearer can remove it. Never ever remove it, do you understand??"  
  


"Why would you give me such a priceless treasure??"  
  


"To save the wizarding world. This necklace is passed down to younger generation with this gift. That's why we meet and it was pre-destined that I would give this to you someday. I never expected that it would be so soon."

"Thank you very much!! I really appreciate it and I promise you that I'll never remove it unless it's for my daughter on her sixteenth birthday." Arabella said and she clasped the Crystal Drop onto her neck. A sense of warm and familiarity rushed through her calming her nerves down.

"There're several things I would like to talk to you about as well. Being a seer, a mind reader, with a gift of premonition and everything."

"Ok. This sounds serious."

"It is rather serious. Do you know why you're an orphan??"

"No."

"In order to let you develop the gift of premonition and ability to read minds, your mother, who has the same power, must leave you right after your birth. The two of you can only reunite after your turned sixteen when your powers are permanent by then."

"Oh. Are you my mother then??"

"No, dear. I'm not married, remember??"

"Oh, right."

"Your father must be a pure wizard as well. In order to develop and keep your powers, both of you can never meet before you turn sixteen. Otherwise your powers will not be focused and weaker than it should be."

"I see."

"So you understand why you're an orphan now??"

"Yes."

"I believe your biological parents will come and find you when the time comes."

"In the future, when you're married and give birth to a daughter, you must not keep her by your side. And both you and your husband has to be separated for the same time before you unite again."

"This is really sad." Arabella said. "I never thought that being born with a gift would result in the separation of my family. I rather I'm not blessed and have my parents by my side."__

"I know. It all began with the curse that started a long time ago. Our ancestors were cursed and it had passed down till today. Remember, you're not alone. I only met my mother for the first time when I turned eighteen and my father at twenty."

"Oh my god!! Then who brought you up??"

"I was an orphan too, brought up by some close relatives."

"I see. So does that mean that we can curse people??"

"Yes. But never ever misuse your powers because a curse cannot be lifted just like that."

"How can you lift a curse??"

"Sacrifice."

"Sacrifice??"

"A human sacrifice is the only way to lift a normal curse. But in our case, I don't know either."

"Oh."

"Let me tell you a secret."

"I tried cursing the position of Defense Against Dark Arts position."

"How??"

"I cursed that if I ever leave this position unwillingly or with unfinished work, the following people who take up this place will only be allowed to be the DADA professor for one year." Both Professor Plains and Arabella giggled.

"Do you think it really work?? This sounds really cool you know. What would happen to them then??"  
  


"I don't know either. I mean I've been teaching here for over ten years. I cursed it more than five years ago. It was just like trial and error kind of thing."

"So next time this position is jinxed. What if I want to take up this position??"

"I already said that it would be cursed if only I've to leave this position unwillingly. The possibility is there but not that likely. Anyway I won't make an exception for that because I think by then you probably would have come up with a counter-curse if you want to take up this job." Professor Plain said, smiling at Arabella fondly.

"I think I might. DADA is one of my favorite lesson although I don't top the subject."

"Sirius is really talented in this field. He is a budding Auror. I can see it in him already. Both girls giggled again. The conversation was now light-hearted and rudely interrupted by a knock.

"Sarah, Albus would like to see you in his office now." Professor McGonagall said from the doorway.

"Thanks Minerva." Profesor Plain replied. "So Arabella, I think I keep you here long enough. Remember what I told you. I'll see you at the next DADA class then."  
  


"Thank you, Professor." Arabella said politely as she left the office. _Wow. Now I finally have some understanding. Should I go and trace my parents?? As much as I want, I know I can't. I'll meet them when the time comes. _Arabella walked towards the Gryffindor tower, fiddling with the Crystal Drop hanging on her neck.

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"Oh my god!!" Lily exclaimed after Arabella told both of them her conversation with Professor Plain.

"I can't believe it!!" Stefanie looked at Arabella, wide-eyed.

"This Crystal drop is really beautiful." Lily said wistfully, admiring the delicate design on both the pendant and the chain. "Both of you have gotten protector crystal necklaces. Even James, Sirius and Remus have them. I'm feeling really left out."

"Don't be. I'm sure someone will come and hand you a crystal necklace soon. Besides you've me and Stef with you all the time." Arabella said optimistically.

"I hope so. Otherwise I would be the first and only one to get hexed day in day out." Lily joked.

"Let's head down for dinner." Stefanie suggested when they started hearing noises from the empty stomach.

"Luckily DADA is the last lesson. Imagine we've Potions after that. Porky probably minus off fifty points for not attending."

"I don't doubt that at all." The three girls linked their hands and walked down towards the Great Hall.

"Hey Lils, Stef, Bell." A familiar girl voice called them from the back.

"Hey Jen, Eve, Shan, Von. What a coincidence." Lily replied, smiling at the four girls. The seven girls had clicked really well instantly. It was not amazing because many girls from Gryffindor and Ravenclaw were good friends.

"Let's have our dinner together. I can't wait for the Hogsmeade weekend again this Saturday." Jennifer said excitedly.

"Are we going together again??" Lily asked casually.

"Definitely. We don't want to go with anyone else but you three. But I was suggesting maybe the three of you and your dorm-mates can join with the Ravenclaw third-years for butterbeers this time. Something like a mass gathering. We would be meeting Jun, Eva, Mabel and Pepper in the late afternoon at the Three Broomsticks." Yvette said suggestively.

"No problem. Let's hurry before the growing up boys finish the food." Lily joked as they walked briskly towards the Great Hall, chattering excitedly about clothes and hairstyles.


	40. Lessons

**Chapter 39: Lessons**

"Very well done, Miss Teng. Ten points to Ravenclaw." Professor Flitwick praised. "Ten points for Miss Ho, Miss Muye and Miss Xiao." They were supposed to be controlling a chalk to make it write their full names on the black board in front of the classroom. Marks would be awarded to anyone who can make legible writings of their own name.

"Twenty points to Miss Evans for such beautiful cursive writing of Lily Dorriane Evans." Professor Flitwick said after the yellow chalk returned to its original position on the rack after writing Lily's name.

Lily was the top student for Charms in the last three years. She was able to control the chalk without any problem at all.

"Ten points for Miss Black and Miss Figg too." Arabella and Stefanie had written their names on the board, with little difficulty.

The seven girls grinned at one another. Lily had always prepared her lessons before Charms on Monday morning. The seven girls had spent the night before hanging out together in an empty classroom where they can chat with privacy and yet not disturbing anyone else. Lily had taught all of them the charm that Professor Flitwick was going to teach the next day.

"Mr. Potter, you looked like you're having some difficulties. Do you need any help??" Professor Flitwick asked James when he stopped by his table. James was having difficulties to make the chalk write a 'J' even. He only managed to scribble some illegible writing on the board so far.

"Thank you. But I think I can manage." James said, trying to concentrate even harder. The seven girls were giggling in front of him. This time he managed to write an ugly looking 'J' finally. _Why is my name so ridiculously long?? Maybe I can use the chalk for a different purpose._

"Mr. Black, I don't think you're scribbling your name, are you??" Professor Flitwick asked Sirius as the chalk proceeded rather slowly along the edges of the board writing 'The amazing one and only Sirius-the-great-and-gorgeous-Edward-the-handsome-and-hunky-' a little messily.__

"I'm writing my name, Professor. Read between the words." Sirius said, grinning. He had occupied most of the board space for his 'name'._ I'm going to do something more than just writing my name. What else can chalks be used for??_

"Mr. Lupin, you're doing well. But the words are a little illegible. I can barely make out your name at all." Profesor Flitwick said kindly.

"I'll improve on that." Remus said. Lily, Arabella and Stefanie stifled a giggle. Remus had always looked like an angel in front of the professors since James and Sirius were like monsters in class. The fact is Remus is actually as naughty, if not, more naughty among them but he simply knew how he ought to behave in class.

"What's that parrot doing here??" Lily asked as she saw a parrot stood on Professor Flitwick's table. "I bet it's the Marauders."

"There's more than one parrot here." Arabella commented and turned over to the chalk-stand where there were seven different colored parrots standing there quietly.

"I can assure you it's the Marauders. Who's transfiguration is that good??" Stefanie said as she ignored the parrots and continued writing her name over again on the board when suddenly the chalk she was using turned into a parrot.

"Mr. Potter, Mr. Black, Mr. Lupin and Mr. Pettigrew, please transfigure the parrots back." Professor Flitwick squeaked.

"Professor, we were just following your instructions by writing our names on the board." James said and he waved the wand. The green parrot picked up a chalk and started to write his full name on the board neater than the way James had been writing.

"You told us to use the chalk to write, didn't you Professor??" Sirius added. He waved the wand and the blue-feathered parrot took a chalk on its beak and continued writing another line of his 'name' in a slightly neater manner.

"We're still using chalks to write." Remus added, having a pretended innocent look on his face.

"Well, you're using _transfigured_ chalks." Professor Flitwick commented squeakily.

"They're still chalk to begin with and what's writing on the board is also normal chalk." James added.

"Oh, alright then." Professor Flitwick gave up arguing with the three boys and transfigured the parrots back himself. He was a kind little professor who usually would not deduct any house points unless absolutely necessary.

What the Marauders did had apparently impressed four particular Ravenclaw students from their use of advanced Transfiguration skills. But for Lily, Arabella and Stefanie, this was like a weekly sight which they stopped being bothered by them after the first year.

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"Look at that four Huffies." James whispered to the rest of the Marauders. The four Hufflepuffs exchanged students appeared to be mutilating the twining plants on the table by poking it with their wands. Shannon had magically cut the plant into two and new ends had emerged. Xavier, Malcolm and Shannon continued magically cutting the plant until there was a pile of creepers covering their faces from Professor Sprout.

"Mr. Daoming, Mr. Huaze, Mr. Ximen and Mr, Meizuo, please stop propagating the plant. I realize that it's growing really well." Professor Sprout called the four guys.

"We just want to see the time taken for the plant to grow." Lewell replied as he poked his head from the thick pile of creepers. The other three had apparently been keeping quiet or had fallen sleep behind the twines.

"Oh, well. You can stop now. I can't see your faces behind those creepers."

"We already stopped, Professor."

"Ok, let's continue with our lesson." Professor Sprout continued sprouting facts and myths about magical creepers.

"I bet they're sleeping behind that bush." James told the three Marauders. They were sitting directly opposite to the four Hufflepuffs. The Marauders always take up the four seats furthest from Professor Sprout and every other professor. They enjoy sitting behind everyone in class because it makes pranking easier.

"Let's do something about it." Sirius suggested.

"Like what??" Remus asked.

"What can make those creepers creep away??" James asked.

"Heat." Peter spoke up. He had been listening attentively to both Professor Sprout and his three friends.

"No wonder the greenhouse is unusually cool today." James commented. He was usually perspiring during Herbology, but today it seems to be unusually cool.

"It's a little humid as well." Remus added taking quick glances at Professor Sprout as they talked.

"So it's all because of this plant." Sirius grinned cheekily.

"We can heat up the creepers in front of them. Maybe we might burn their fanciful hairstyle as well." James said and the four guys exchanged a mischievous grin. James checked to make sure Professor Sprout was busy explaining. He pointed his index finger at the creepers and muttered a heating charm.

"AaaHHhh!!"

"Ouch!!"

"Fire!!"

"My hair!!" There was a sudden commotion from the back of the classroom and the creepers started to move away from the four Hufflepuffs.

"What's happening??" Professor Sprout asked, annoyed at the disruption.

"Someone set fire on us!!" Shannon said, moving his fingers through his hair repeatedly to check for any damaged strands.

"I don't see any fire at all, Mr. Daoming. And I'll not tolerate such nonsense in my class. By the way, would the four of you please clean your drool around your mouths??" Professor Sprout said in an annoyed tone. The whole class chuckled at the four guys at their nonsensical outburst. The four guys settled down once again. The creepers had moved away from them now leaving them no choice but to keep awake.

The Marauders laughed in the class with the rest and exchanged a knowing look with one another. Lewell gave the Marauders a knowing look, as if he knew that they made the 'fire'.

"Class, silence. If there's any more disturbances from this class, I'm going to keep you here with me for another half hour." Professor Sprout told the class. They stopped laughing instantly but still stifled them chuckles, looking at the expression and the hair of the four guys.

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"Look at the plaque up there." James said, looking upwards. For once, the Marauders were early for their lesson although they did not like Professor Trelawney or Divination. They just could not stand the four egoistic Hufflepuffs who treated themselves as the kings of the school. The four Hufflepuffs had walked into the Great Hall as if they were kings when most of the female population was admiring them from the side. The Marauders had found that scene particularly nauseating.

"What's with it?? I don't see any difference." Sirius commented his neck was getting aching from looking upwards.

"Look clearly at the last word." Remus said and started laughing.

"Lecher??" Sirius said and started laughing at the joke. The brass plaque now read 'Sybill Trelawney, Divination le cher' instead of 'Sybill Trelawney, Divination teacher'.

"We didn't do it. Who did??" Sirius asked.

"I can only think of someone else who could do it." James said.

"Don't tell me is that four Huffies??" James said.

"I don't doubt that. If Trelawney is that great, she should be able to foresee this." Sirius commented, waiting for the silvery ladder to descend down from the circular trapdoor.

The Marauders stepped into their strange-looking classroom and climbed into the armchairs. Then they waited impatiently for the rest of the class to come in the heavy, sickly sort of perfume from the large copper kettle at the crowded mantelpiece. The four of them keep quiet because if they talked, who knows what Professor Trelawney might do. She had already predicted the death of James on his first lesson last year, and there he was, sitting in the same classroom right now.

"Hey guys, so early today." Lily said as she, Arabella and Stefanie climbed into the classroom. Within five minutes, the rest of the class filled up the heavily scented room.

"Sit, my children, sit. It would be a short lesson today as my Inner Eye had been working rather hard lately." Professor Trelawney said. "I would be assigning homework for today. Each of you has to come up with a list of predictions for one of the students in the same year as you for the upcoming month. It could be someone from your house or from another. On page thirty-one, it'll tell you how you should choose this person. Refer to page twenty to fifty for this assignment. I expect no less than one prediction a day for one month."

The class flipped to the pages and started browsing through.

"What do you think had happened to her??" Lily asked, eyeing Professor Trelawney.

"Maybe someone had created a havoc here earlier??" Stefanie replied, noticing the slightly messed up room.

"Who had lesson before us??" Arabella asked.

"I think fourth-year Hufflepuffs." Lily said thoughtfully.

"Girls, if you're wondering if what had happened here this morning, you've guessed it correctly." Professor Trelawney said with her back facing the class. Everyone turned to Lily, Arabella and Stefanie who stopped their whisperings immediately.

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"Ten marks off and a detention for each of you for being late for class." Professor told the four students who just rushed into the room, panting slightly.

"Stupid Huffies." James muttered under his breath as he walked towards the last seat in the class.

"Another five marks off and a detention for Mr. Potter for scolding vulgarities in class." Professor Porky said. All the Gryffindors had learnt not to argue with Professor Porky unless absolutely necessary because he could negate the house points of Gryffindor in one lesson if he really wanted to do it.

"Today we would be learning to prepare this new potion." Professor Porky said and he droned on and going through the potion procedures and ingredients used. Finally after fifteen minutes, everyone was allowed to start preparing his or her potion.

"Why are you so late today?? I thought we reminded you during lunch??" Lily asked James who was sitting behind her.

"It's all because of Shannon and his gang." James muttered angrily.

"What did he do??" Stefanie asked.

"The four of them had delayed us along our way. They knew we were having Potions, and they held us up on purpose."

"Why would they??"

"Revenge from Herbology class last week."

"You mean that 'fire'??"

"Yeah. How did they know??"

"Lewell caught us."

"Since when do you address them in their first name??"

"Since their last name were so difficult to pronounce."

"What did they do??"

"They tried to hex us, but obviously they can't."

"Because of your chain??"  
  


"That's right."

"Then what did they do??"

"Broke into a fight."

"I don't see you guys being injured."

"We weren't."

"Then??"

"They taunted us and started the fight. They hit us on our stomach and limbs and not our face."

"No wonder."

"Our reaction was to punch them on their faces, obviously."

"That's why they had bruises on their faces. And _somehow_ McGonagall and Sprout came as we were punching them."

"We're sent for two weeks of detentions for beating up fellow students."

"Two hundred house points off for that."

"Now we are the last!! Even Slytherin beat us."

"That's the big problem."

"What happened to them??"

"Pretended to be suffer from serious injuries and excused from lessons for two weeks."

"McGonagall and Sprout said so."

"This is so unfair."

"What worst is that the reason they're not happy with us because they don't like us being the Marauders."

"How stupid does that sounds??"

"They're such a bunch of stupid himbos."

"We'll definitely have our revenge."

"We've to beat the Hufflepuff this year."

"They're invited to played for the team in the first match."

"We can beat them definitely."

"Don't be too sure."

"Why??"

"Yvette told me that they represented their house and school Quidditch team. They were approached by the National team to be trained and represent them internationally."

"Wow!!"

"What?!?"

"I think they're really good!!"

"We can't let them win!!"

"We got to-"

"Ten points off each for Potter, Black, Lupin, Pettigrew and Evans, Black, Figg for their little discussion in the middle of the lesson." Professor Porky shouted at the seven of them. The Slytherins snickered. They had lost about three hundred points for Gryffindor in a day.

"Talk later." Lily muttered and continued the finishing of her potion.

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"Easy as a, b, c." James said as he transfigured a pin to a beautiful bouquet of lily flawlessly.

"Why did you transfigure a lily??" Sirius asked cheekily.

"You don't like?? I can transfigure to something else." James said as he transfigured the white lilies to roses to tulips to daisies to orchids.

"We're just wondering why did you transfigure the pin to lilies??" Remus asked, grinning.

"No particular reason. Lily is our friend, so naturally I transfigure it to a bouquet of lilies." James answered as a matter of fact.

"Well, our _friend_ Lily is having some problem with her _lilies_." Remus told James. Lily had only managed to transfigure the pin into a lily with sharp petals. She tried again and transfigured it into a lily with a flower head but stem of a needle.

"I hate transfiguration. This is so tough." Lily muttered under her breath. Arabella and Stefanie had a little difficulty at the transfiguration as well, but they managed to transfigure a stalk of decent looking flower each but with defects in the leaves and petals.

"Shall we transfigure the pin for them??" James whispered to Sirius and Remus. The three guys shared a nod and waited for the girls to mutter the spell.

"Ahh.. I got it finally!!" Lily shouted excitedly as a perfect white lily popped up. She held up the lily and sniffed.

"Me too!!" Stefanie said as she picked up the perfect stalk of blue rose from the table and sniffed the scent.

"Look at my purple orchid!!" Arabella said eagerly as a purple orchid popped up. "It looked better than I imagined it to be." She picked up the stalk of flower and admired its beauty.

"Mr. Potter, Mr. Black and Mr. Lupin, I believe the girls would need to have their own practice in Transfiguration." Professor McGonagall said in front of the class. The three girls turned and stared at the guys, partially grateful and yet annoyed at the same time.


	41. Halloween Ball

**Chapter 40: Halloween Ball**

"I'm so looking forward for the Christmas break!!" Lily said tiredly as the group started walking back to the building from the quidditch pitch. The quidditch tryout was a month ago and Lily, Arabella and Stefanie had gotten into the house team. James had become the Keeper of the house because no one else was up to it besides him. Both Lily and Arabella became Chasers because Kenneth Bell had met with an accident in the summer break and fractured his right arm. Sirius and Remus remained as Beaters because there was no other position that interest them more than that. Stefanie had made it to become the Seeker because of her agility and skill on the broomstick.

"So do I. This is really killing us!!" James added, practically dragging his Laser broomstick due to the exhaustion. James, Sirus, Stefanie and Remus had gotten new broomsticks from their parents for being in the house team. They had asked for the Laser series while currently Lily and Arabella were using James' and Sirius' old broomsticks, the Thunderbolts.

"Hey guys, we've got to buck up!! We've three addition members and we're still far from our original standard." Andrew Spinnet told the six fourth-years. "We need to get the Quidditch cup this year as well as the House cup." Being the most experienced player and sixth-year, Andrew Spinnet had became the Captain of the team after Leo Jordon.

"We'll definitely get it." Sirius said confidently.

"I wouldn't say that if I were you." Andrew said pessimistically. "Hufflepuff had gotten their four exchanged students to play in their team this year. Do you know that they were invited to join the youth national team at the age of thirteen??"

"I've heard. But I believe we'll be just as good." James said. "Regardless in skill or broomsticks, we're not any lousier than them."

"Don't be too over confident. We've to train doubly hard nevertheless." Arabella pointed. After some long walk, they finally reached the Pink Lady at the seventh floor. Andrew said the password and they climbed into the common room.

"See you tomorrow."

"Good night."

The four boys and three girls went up to their dormitory slowly. Their weekdays were fully packed. Everyone Monday, Wednesday and Friday were quidditch training from six till ten. And for Tuesday and Thursday, they had their private practice sessions with Dumbledore and sometimes Professor McGonagall. Leaving only weekends for schoolwork and leisure.

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"I've an announcement to make before you start heading towards Hogsmeade today." Dumbledore stood up in front of the Great Hall. "There would be an upcoming Halloween Ball at the end of this month for the fourth years and above. Details can be obtained from the prefects. Younger students would not be allowed unless accompanied by the seniors." Cheers can be heard from the older students while the younger students groaned in unfairness.

"Wow. Finally we can attend a ball in Hogwarts!!" Lily exclaimed on a bright Saturday Hogsmeade weekend.

"Glad that they lower the limit this year to fourth-years. Last year Christmas Ball was only for fifth-year and above." Arabella added.

"We can do our shopping at Hogsmeade later. We only have three more weeks." Stefanie suggested.

"What do you all do in a Halloween Party??" Jennifer asked with interest.

"I don't know. We had a Christmas Ball last year, Valentine's Day Ball the year before and Homecoming Party when we were in first year. We were not allowed to attend as you've heard Dumbledore. There's an age limit." Lily explained and started eating her sausages and eggs more eagerly than before.

"It sounds interesting though. We barely have any official parties in school except the usual graduation party. We've trips to overseas though." Shannie explained.

"It would be nice if we can get dates and go together." Yvette suggested.

"Sounds nice. But who can we ask??"

"Wait for the right guy to ask."

"How we know which is the right guy??"

"Your heart will tell you that he's the one."

"Sounds like you're choosing a boyfriend and not a date."

"I agree. It's just a date to a ball."

"Well, perhaps to us a ball is much more special than just a normal party."

"I guess it's the different in culture and environment."

"I can see Amos Diggory, Barty Crouch and Ludo Bagman coming our direction." Lily said grinning.

"Oh no. I hope they can't see us. Can you hide us please??" Jennifer and Yvette begged.

"It's too late."

"Hi girls." The three Hufflepuffs greeted the seven girls cheerfully.

"Jennifer, would you like to go to the Ball with me??" Amos asked.

"Yvette, would you like to go to the Ball with me??" Barty asked.

"Shannie, would you like to go to the Ball with me??" Ludo asked.

"Sorry, not interested." Jennifer answered on behalf of the four girls.

"We sincerely would love to go to the Ball with you." Amos replied. The two guys behind him nodded.

"We don't want to go with you. Please leave us alone." Yvette said bluntly.

"We rather go with girls than you." Shannie added.

"Alright then, if you all would change your minds about-" Amos said.

"Don't worry, we won't." Jennifer broke his sentence. The four guys looked dejected and headed back to their table.

"They appear persistent." Lily laughed.

"It's not funny, you know. They're so irritating." Jennifer said, pretending to pout.

"Why don't you date them??" Arabella asked, laughing at the scene before her. The four girls looked totally horrified.

"We rather die than to date those brainless guys." Yvette said.

"Are they that bad??" Stefanie said.

"They're not just bad. They're simply terrible!!" Shannie said dramatically.

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"Are we going to have dates to the Ball??" James asked the three Marauders a week later after the announcement. They were now hanging out at their dormitory after the Thursday practice with Dumbledore.

"Who can we ask??"

"The girls??"

"The Ravenclaws??"

"No, the Gryffindors??"

"Who??"

"Lils, Bell and Stef of course!!"

"Ok with me."

"Ask them tomorrow morning??"

"Ok."

"How about our Animagus stuffs??" Sirius asked after they climbed into each of their beds.

"I think we had did enough research, we can start with the practical part after the Halloween Ball." James replied sleepily.

"Thanks guys." Remus said. A soft and sleepy mutters of 'no problem' were heard from the three beds.

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"Don't we all look great??" Lily took off her new spectacles and said as the five girls looked in the mirror, admiring themselves and at one another. Lily had gotten shortsighted somewhere this year and Madam Pomfrey had insisted that she should wear spectacles. Most people had been teasing about James and Lily even more ever since she started wearing spectacles.

"Certainly. The guys will all be drooling tonight." Samantha said, adjusting a push-up bra to make her cleavage more obvious at her low v-neck black dress.

"I think we really should dress up together more often." Stefanie said, adjusting her strappy black heels.

"It's more fun to dress up together than doing it individually." Joey added, doing some last minute make-up magically. Her black halter-neck top with black skirt fitted her perfectly.

"Girls, are we ready to hit the Great Hall??" Arabella asked.

"YES!!" The four girls chorused, giving themselves one last look in the mirror. The mirror had repeated countless times that they looked gorgeous until it had gotten tired of talking.

The five third-year Gryffindors had arranged to dress up together for the Halloween Ball. They had gathered in the dormitory since three in the afternoon to prepare themselves. Once again, they did each other make-up and hairstyle, making them personalized and perfected to every detail.

"We don't want to be late, do we??" Lily said.

"We don't need thirty minutes to reach the Great Hall!!" Samantha joked.

"Don't forget we are wearing high heels. They aren't exactly _easy_ to walk with." Stefanie reminded.

"Let's get going." Joey said as they finally left their dormitory.

"Hey James, you look great!!" Lily praised him. James was wearing a metallic dark green button down shirt with black pants and leather shoes. His hair had obviously been gelled and styled in a messy manner since his hair can never be tamed.

"You don't look too bad yourself either." James grinned at Lily. She was wearing a blue denim tied-back halter-neck dress, which was frayed at the bottom edge of the skirt that reached her mid-calf. She wore a ten-centimeter high denim strapped heels that matches her dress very well. Her auburn hair was piled up with alternate frizzy and straight side fringe. The simplicity of her outfit and hairdo with her naturally blended make-up suited her very well.

"Well, well, well, I almost couldn't recognize the infamous Sirius Black." Arabella joked. Sirius was wearing a plain metallic navy blue shirt and dark blue pants with leather shoes and had worn a smiley-faced tie to adopt a comical look. His hair was gelled and styled to achieve an Armani hairstyle.

"Aren't you a gorgeous little _bell_ today??" Sirius commented, eyeing Arabella. She wore a black colored body hugging toga dress, which reached just above her knees. With matching black strappy heels, she appeared taller than Sirius for the evening. Her brownish blonde hair had added streaks of purple highlights for the night was piled up leaving a perfectly styled frizzy fringe.

"You look different today." Stefanie told Remus. He wore a brownish-beige shirt and black pants with brown leather shoes. His hair was gelled to secure his center parting hairstyle, which was neatly combed. The simplicity in his clothes brought out his personality well.

"You look like an angel." Remus complimented. Stefanie was wearing a white spaghetti strap dress, which reached up to her cream white heels. Her light pink manicure and pedicure with pink-based make-up brought out her angelic look once again. In fact, she looked like a typical angel except for the missing wings.

"Let's get going. Fifteen minutes more to the start." James instructed. Samantha and Joey had already left with Andrew Spinnet and Kenneth Bell while the six of them were chatting. Peter's date was Gracie Lockhart because no one from his year wanted to go with him.

"Besides we want to see what the rest of the girls are wearing." Lily said as she tried to walk a little faster. The six of them climbed out of their portrait and headed towards the Great Hall along with the rest of the students, chattering away happily.

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"May I have the first dance with you??" James stood up and asked Lily, slightly bowed with his right hand forward. Everyone had just finished their Halloween Feast and the Head Boy and Girl with the prefects started the dance.

"Sure. But I don't know how to dance." Lily laughed at the fourteen-year-old James, who behaved like a total gentleman.

"You can just follow me." James said, still slightly bowed with his hand in front.

"Alright then, don't blame me if I stepped on your feet." Lily joked.

"No problem. I can put a hardening charm on my shoes if you're stepping on me too much." James replied.

"Let's go then." Lily took James hand and they went towards the dance floor.

"Hey Stef, wanna go and dance??" Remus asked Stefanie and James and Lily left their little table.

"Sure." Stefanie replied happily and took Remus' hand and walked towards the dance floor. Even Peter had led Gracie to the dance floor, leaving Sirius and Arabella at their table.

"Do you want to go and dance or just want to sit here for the whole night??" Sirius asked Arabella.

"I'm waiting for people to ask me for a dance." Arabella replied coolly.

"Ok, you wanna dance??" Sirius asked.

"Why not??" Arabella replied.

"Let's go, girl." Sirius said and took Arabella with him.

Soon, most of the student population was dancing a slow dance at the dance floor, which was magically enlarged in the center of the Great Hall. The long house tables had became smaller round tables with pumpkin candles in the middle. These small tables for four to six students were aligned at the sides of the hall, forming a circumference around the dance floor in the center.

"What do you think of the Ball??" Lily asked James. They were dancing to the song I Have A Dream, swaying along with the music.

"I think it's ok. Nothing exciting happening yet." James replied, grinning.

"Oh no. What is going to happen??" Lily asked, rather horrified.

"Nothing." James replied and gave Lily the famous James' I-did-something look.

"What did you do??" Lily threatened jokingly.

"I didn't do anything yet. Look around. Any difference??" Lily looked around the Great Hall, the staffs were still at their table eating and being merry while most of the students were at the dance floor with some at the sideways chatting and mingling.

"I don't see anything wrong now doesn't mean there won't be anything wrong later." Lily said, knowingly. The Marauders sometimes used Potions or Charms to delay the effect.

"Seriously we didn't do anything." James said coolly. "How could we?? All these decorations are prepared by prefects and Head Girl and Head Boy, how can we do anything??"

"I'm sure you've your means to do something tonight if you really want." Lily said.

"Thanks for thinking so highly of me. I know I'm James the Great One."

"Like real." Lily said and stuck her tongue out.

"Wow!!"

"Cool!!"

"Look!!"

"Great Dancers!!"

"Look at Malcolm."

"I think Shannon is cuter."

"Look at their dance!!"

"Break dancing!!"

The four Hufflepuffs, namely Shannon, Lewell, Xavier and Malcolm were now in the middle of the dance floor, dancing to the next song Bye, Bye, Bye. They were doing complicated hand and leg movements and the rapport between the four guys were implicitly great. Everyone had stopped dancing to look at the four guys doing their hip-hop dance. The four guys had dressed slightly different from one another, but they definitely had the cool and mysterious look on them. Cheers could be heard from most of the girls in the Hall, which included Lily, Arabella and Stefanie nevertheless.

A next slow song, A Whole New World was played. The four guys approached some girls and asked for a dance.

"Wanna dance??" Shannon came up to Lily and asked. Most of the girls around Lily looked at her enviously. Shannon had seldom approached any girl; girls just threw themselves to him.

"O-ok." Lily stuttered, too shocked at the approach.

"Would you like to dance with me??" Lewell came up and asked the girl beside Lily.

"Sure." Stefanie replied, smiling at Lewell.

"Harlow Gorgeous, can I have the next dance with you??" Xavier asked Arabella. She took his outstretched hand and they walked towards the center of the dance floor.

"Hi pretty, a dance together??" Malcolm asked a stunned Jun. She regain her consciousness after awhile and allowed Malcolm to lead her to the dance floor.

"So what's your name??" Shannon asked Lily in a coarse, half-broken voice.

"Lily Evans."

"Mine is Shannon Daoming."

"I believe everyone knows."

"I'm not surprised."

"That was a really cool dance you guys had earlier." Lily complimented as they swayed with the music.

"Thanks. We like to be in the limelight."

"I've friends who are like you as well."

"Yes, I know. The Marauders."

"How did you know??"

"I've heard a lot about them. Not to mention we were their prank victims before."

"But I've heard that you guys had your revenge as well."

"We always do."

"So what brings you here to Hogwarts??"

"Shannie and her friends."

"You like Shannie??"

"No. But we want to escape from our school. It was boring. The girls there were mad."

"It's because you guys are the most eligible bachelors."

"Who cares?? Girls are just girls. Anyway when they said they were coming here for a year, we decided to follow."

"They didn't even know you guys are coming."

"We had a small conspiracy with the principal."

"How??"

"We've more power in school than the principal because our parents supported the school's well-being."

"I heard from Yvette they all that the four of you are the most obnoxious students there. Always breaking rules and skipping lessons."

"Yes, back there we're the school bullies if you call it."

"But down here, you guys seems to be nice and everything."

"It's because of Dumbledore. We made a deal with him after the fight with the Marauders."

"What happened??"

"He knew we started the fight. He's indeed the Greatest Wizard in history."

"What did he do??"

"That's our secret. But anyway we agreed that we won't do anything to the other students like the way we do in school."

"I've heard how you guys treat the other students in school. Sounds rather terrifying."

"Anyone who oppose us would quit school within a month by themselves."

"Yvette told me that. Shannie said she was a target of you guys before. Jennifer, on the other hand, had been a childhood friend with you all."

"I think you've already heard most of the stuffs about us from the girls."

"Yes. I must say that you guys are really unique."

"Thank you for the compliment. And thanks for the dance." With that the song ended. The two of them went their separate ways. Lily headed towards Arabella and Stefanie. The three girls looked at each other and grinned.

"Let's talk about that tonight."

"Look, Shannon is dancing with Samantha now and Lewell is dancing with Joey."

"It's gonna be interesting at our dorm tonight."

"I agree."

"Where are the guys??"

"Don't know??"

"I forgot all about them when the Flower Boys approached us."

"Anyway let just sit down for a drink." The three girls went to the table and get a fruit punch each and settled at the nearby table, watching the people at the dance floor.

"Hi Lily, can I have a dance with you??" Severus came up to the girls.

"What for?? Aren't we enemies??" Lily looked at Severus suspiciously.

"It's just a dance. And we're enemies with the Marauders and not you." Lily turned to Arabella and Stefanie who shook their heads.

"Sorry Severus. Another time perhaps." Lily said politely.

"It's alright then." Severus left the girls and went to join his gang of Slytherins.

"Why would Snape ask you for a dance??" Arabella asked.

"I don't know. He seems pretty ok when I partnered him for a few of the lessons before." Lily answered, taking a look over the Severus and his friends.

"Well, beware of him. Afterall, he's a Slytherin." Stefanie adviced.

"I will. Thanks." Lily said. "Are we going to wait here until we're approached??"

"Nope, the three of us are going to dance together." Arabella said.

"Hey, let's dance together now. This song is kinda nice." Stefanie said and the three girls left their table and walked towards the dance floor. The song being played now is Sometimes.

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"Can you believe the four Huffies??" Sirius said angrily. The four Hufflepuffs had just finished their dance and had asked their dates for the next dance.

"They merely danced."

"Who did they think they were??"

"Great dancers?"

"I'm totally pissed of with them."

"They didn't offend us that much."

"Sir, it's just you."

"But aren't you angry with them??"

"A little pissed off is the word."

"Let's not spoil our evening. We can approach someone else for a dance. Look, there're some girls from Ravenclaw there."

"Alright then. We must get back at them."

"Definitely."

"Don't forget that we gotta leave the hall at eleven fifty-five."

"How could we forget that??"

"We've two more hours till then."

"Let's dance." James said as they walked towards Eva, Mabel and Pepper, three Ravenclaws who were at the next table.


	42. Challenge

**Chapter 41: Challenge**

"It was so embarrassing!!" Joey exclaimed as she plopped on her bed, stomach downwards. Joey covered her head with her pillow.

"There's nothing to be embarrassed about. Everyone was farting together." Lily said, arranging her bed to make it more comfortable.

"I don't think anyone would remember who farted first or what." Arabella pointed out, opening the window to the maximum for once.

"Let's hope we don't fart tonight. It had been two hours since the farting frenzy started." Samantha said, coming out after her long bath.

"Don't worry, our windows are opened. We can spray some perfume later in any case someone fart." Stefanie said, taking out her Lancôme Miracle perfume.

The five girls had left the Great Hall along with everyone else when people started farting uncontrollably. There was a sudden outburst of farting noises at midnight. The smell of the farts had flooded the whole hall within minutes. Students had rushed out and returned to their respective towers almost immediately. Even back in the common room, the students were still farting away. All the windows were opened to their maximum to allow utmost ventilation. Everyone had returned to his or her respective dormitories when the farting sensation had died down a little.

"I believe someone had drugged the fruit punch with the farting potion." Arabella commented knowingly.

"It's the Marauders. James was giving his usual I-did-something look when I danced with him." Lily said.

"Who else could do something like that??" Stefanie added, preparing to sleep.

"I wonder how long they take to aerate the Great Hall." Joey said.

"We'll see tomorrow. Let's sleep now." Samantha said and they returned to their sleeping positions.

"Good night beauties." Lily said. A few 'good nights' were heard and silence filled the fourth-years dormitory.

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"Wasn't our plan brilliant last night??" James said. The Marauders were eating their breakfast together the morning after the Halloween Ball.

"Definitely. Luckily we returned and stayed in our dorm till this morning." Remus added.

"Unfortunately, they had magicked the odor away in the Great Hall." Sirius commented.

"I don't think the _aroma_ of fart is appetizing for breakfast." James commented.

"Well, another detention coming up." Remus said as he noticed Professor McGonagall heading their direction again.

"I bet it's a week."

"I bet it's three days."

"Potter, Black, Lupin and Pettigrew. Detention for a week with Hagrid."

"We can't do it on weekdays nights."

"Your detentions would all be after ten." Professor McGonagall said and she left.

"We could be doing our detentions in the Forest."

"Sounds good."

"How about our research??"

"We can get started on the practical the next weekend."

"At where??"

"The shack of course."

"When is the next full moon??"

"Two weeks time."

"We're finally getting more interesting detentions."

"They're always interesting when we're the one serving it."

"Look at the four Huffies."

"What??"

"They're looking at us." The four of them turned to look at the four students at the Hufflepuff table.  
  


The eight boys were looking at each other. Finally the four Hufflepuffs walked over to them.  
  


"Yes??" James asked as the four guys.

"Are you up to a challenge??" Shannon asked.

"What challenge do you have in mind??"

"Challenge in quidditch. I've heard about your skills and we would like to try it."

"Sure. How??"

"One keeper, two chasers and one beater. Four versus four." The Marauders look at each other and nodded.

"Ok, when??"

"One month from today so we could practice."

"You're on."

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"Three, two, one!!" Lily and Jennifer shouted together at the grassy area on the quidditch pitch.

Eight brooms rose up into the air. For the Marauders, James was the Keeper, Remus and Arabella as Chasers and Sirius as Beater. For the Flower Boys, Lewell was the Keeper while Shannon and Xavier as Chasers and Malcolm as Beater. Arabella had to replace Peter because he had fell off from the first training and injured his left hand rather badly.

"GO BELL GO!! GO JAMES GO!! GO SIRIUS GO!! GO REMUS GO!!" Lily was cheering at the bottom of the quidditch field.

"F-FOUR!! GO GO GO!!" Jennifer, Shannie, Yvette and Yvonne cheering on for the other team.

There was no commentator for this match because it was non-official. The match ends when either team reach two hundred points.

"Marauders scores!!"

"Go Shannon!!"

"Cheer for the Marauders!!"

"Cheer for F-Four!!"

"Shannon scores!!"

"Great Keeper Lewell!!"

"James better!!"

"Go Sirius!!"

"Malcolm!! Malcolm!! Malcolm!!"

"F-Four scores again!!"

The entire female population in Hogwarts had gathered at the quidditch pitch on the bright sunny Saturday morning. The news of F-Four versus Marauders informal quidditch match had spread around school like wildfire.

"Shannon scores again!!"

"Great Keeper Lewell!!"

"Xavier scores!!"

Within thirty minutes into the game, F-Four had scored a hundred and twenty points while the Marauders only had sixty points.

"James block the Quaffle twice!!"

"Arabella scores!!"

"Remus scores again!!"

"Sirius is taking revenge!!"

"Remus scores!!"

The Marauders were catching up quickly enough. Now they tied at one hundred and fifty points. Fifty points more for any of the team will signify the end of the match.

"GO SHANNON GO!!"

"GO XAVIER GO!!"

"JAMES!!"

"REMUS!!"

"SHANNON SCORES!!"  
  


"REMUS SCORES!!"

"GO MARAUDERS!!"

"ONE MORE FOR F-FOUR!!"

"SIRIUS!! ARABELLA!!"

"GGGOOOOAAALLLL!!!!!!"

The whole stadium erupted into cheers and boos from various female supporters. There were a small fraction of boys in the stadium sat through just to watch the skills of the eight players.

Shannon had just thrown the Quaffle into the hoop and that earned his last ten points. The Marauders lost by a mere twenty points for this match.

"Great Match, guys!!" Andrew, Captain of Gryffindor, had come to cheer the team on.

"Thanks Andrew. But we lost anyway." James said, rather disappointed.

"You guys played really well. They're indeed much stronger and more skillful." Kenneth said.

"They're playing for Hufflepuff this year. It's going to be a tough game." Arabella said. Playing with seven guys had indeed made the game harder and more tiring.

"I'm sure we can do it. We're the Gryffindors!!" Lily said cheerfully and put her hand forward.

"Yes. We can beat them. Just need to train even harder." Stefanie said and put her hand above Lily.

"We'll definitely beat them." James said and put his hand forward.

"C'mon Sirius. It's just a friendly match. We're going to beat them in the actual one." Remus said and put his hand forward to the pile. Sirius grinned and put his right hand on top of the pile.

"We won't lose the next time!!" Arabella said and joined in the hand-stack. Even Peter joined in too.

"That's the spirit of Gryffindor!!" Andrew exclaimed and he put his hand in with Kenneth.

"GO GRYFFINDOR!!" They shouted together.


	43. Animagus Transformation

**Chapter 42: Animagus Transformation**

"What animal are you going to transform into??" James asked Sirius, Remus and Peter. The Marauders were hanging out in their dormitory a week after Remus' transformation. For once, the hyperactive pranksters had decided to stay in on a Sunday morning.

"Some big, strong, good looking creature definitely. It resembles me totally." Sirius said.

"Like an elephant??" Remus joked. Sirius had never particularly liked elephants since young for some reason or other.

"Elephant is big and strong alright, but I wouldn't fancy having a penis-like structure on my face." Sirius commented wrinkling his nose.

"That penis-like structure is commonly known as a trunk." James said in a knowledgeable manner.

"Try camel." Remus laughed at Sirius expression on hearing an elephant as a suggestion.

"It would be interesting to have boobs on your back huh??" James joked. The four guys laughed at their little joke.

"Let's get serious."

"How many times must I tell you Sirius is always here??" The three Marauders pretended that they did not hear the comment from Sirius and continued talking.

"According to the book, I fit it the stallion and stag category." James said, looking at a paragraph from the book.

"Mine is somewhere along the dog and bull category." Sirius said.

"Dog and bull." Remus repeated. "Sounds funny. I don't see much resemblance between a dog and a bull besides they're both four-legged animals."

"I'll make a god bull for all you know."

"Imagine you start chasing after red cloth."

"An animagus still think like a human. We can be assured that we won't do something beast-like. Still conscious." Remus said knowingly. The four guys had done years of reading up and research for the last whole year. They practically went through the whole collection on Animagi in the library.

"What about you, Pete?"

"Something small I supposed." _Master wants me to be a rat._

"Squirrel?? Porcupine??"

"I want to be a rat."

"A rat??"

"Why would anyone want to be a rat??"

"I think I can do the freezing of the tree easier as a rat."

"Alright then."

"The book mentioned that the smaller the animal, the easier the transformation."

"Rat is nice and small. So why not??"

"So we shall carry out our first practice next week."

"I'm still sleepy. Help me get some food from the kitchen please. Thanks." James said and turned back to his bed.

"You lazy pig!!" Sirius yelled at him.

"Detention yesterday night was a killer." James muttered. The Marauders had served their detentions with Hagrid in the Forbidden Forest. They were supposed to look for injured animals and helped them but they had met a horribly large spider and thousands of smaller spiders along the way, which freaked the four boys out. Luckily Hagrid came around in time to talk to the spider and the rest of the spiders stopped giving chase to the four boys.

"Hey Rem and Pete. I think I want to take a nap too. Help me get more food up. Thanks." Sirius said and climbed up to his bed. Remus and Peter then left their bedroom and headed for the kitchens leaving the two sleepyheads in the dormitory.

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"Ok, the books say we need to concentrate hard to be able to transform." James said. The Marauders were hanging out at the Shrieking Shack on a sunny afternoon. They had left the castle via the tunnel quietly after breakfast, making sure no one followed them as they headed towards the shack from Honeydukes.

"Concentrate hard on the animal we want to transform. Otherwise we would not be able to achieve the animal or we become half transformed." Sirius added.

"Where's the reverse charm for failed transformation??" James asked.

"Here." Remus said and he referred to one of the parchment, which he had written the lengthy spell that is used to reverse the failed transformation.

"Ok, we can start now." Sirius instructed as he muttered a spell from the book and closed his eyes to concentrate on the animal he was about to transform. _Dog!! Dog!! Dog!! _Suddenly he heard his three friends laughing hysterically. "What??"

"Look at your right foot. It's _padded_!!" James said and continued laughing. Sirius looked down at his feet. His right foot was padded like one of those large dogs. The three guys continued laughing at him.

"Well, I'm just a beginner. I bet neither you nor Peter could do any better than me." Sirius said and he referred to the spell to turn his transformed foot back to normal. He shook his leg to make sure that was his leg with his shoe and socks on it.

"Ok, my turn then." James said and he looked at the spell and closed his eyes to concentrate hard. _Stag!! Stag!! Stag!!_ After about five minutes, James opened his eyes and looked around at his three friends who now had a stunned expression on them. "What happened??"

"We don't know what are you talking about!! Go look at your reflection." Sirius said and the three of them started laughing at James' transformation. James took his wand and tried to conjure up a mirror but unsuccessful.

"Let me get the mirror for you." Remus said in between laughter. He tried to stop laughing and transfigured a piece of broken wood from the chair into a normal mirror.

"AaahhH!!" James screamed at his reflection. _What on earth was that??_ The three Marauders continued laughing and shoved the parchment to his hand. James could only look at the parchment because he was not able to mouth a proper spell.

"Let me do it." Sirius offered in between his outburst everytime he looked at James' head. The stag head with prongs and James' body suddenly transformed back to the James original head on his body.

"Who was funnier?? James or me??"

"James." Peter answered as a matter-of-fact.

"I agreed." The three guys started laughing at James once again.

"At least I transformed my head unlike you who only managed to transform your foot, right??" James mocked Sirius jokingly.

"Aww. That's true. But luckily I can _say_ the reverse spell myself. Unlike someone." Sirius said and started laughing. James began to chase after Sirius around the dilapidated house.

"Remember never practice alone. We don't want you to go around scaring people." Remus said jokingly.

"Why don't we continue??" James said as he pinned Sirius down on the floor.

"Yes, I agree. Can I continue??" Sirius said to James who was sitting on top of him. James seemed to have the tendency to pin Sirius on the floor and sit on him everytime.

"Fine. Pete, your turn to give it a try." James said as he got up from his sitting position on Sirius' stomach.

"O-ok. But I'm afraid I can't do it." Peter said.

"Don't worry. I don't think you could have a leg like Sirius or a head like James." Remus said comfortingly.

"Thanks Rem. I try now." Pete said and he muttered the charm and concentrate. _Rat!! Rat!! Rat!!_ He opened his eyes after five minutes. The three other Marauders were looking at him. "Any changes??"

"Nope. Not at all. Try again??" James said. Peter turned to take a look at the mirror when something popped up from the bottom of his pants.

"Hey, you've got a worm on your pants." Sirius said and pointed at the worm-like structure sticking out from Peter's pants.

"Huh??" Peter looked shocked as he pulled out his pants to take a closer look. "I've got a tail!!"

"That's a great try!!" Remus said optimistically.

"Yeah!! I've got a tail!!" Peter said happily.

"Well, better reverse the tail back. Otherwise you might have the tail stuck on for good before you become an animagus." James pointed out.

"I help you with the reverse spell." Sirius said helpfully.

"Let me try again. I don't believe I can only transform my foot only. Maybe I could get a body or head next time." Sirius said and he muttered the spell. In a small pop, Sirius had transformed into a small and cute white poodle with padded feet. The three Marauders started laughing hysterically at the adorable little puppy in front of them. The puppy barked and in a slow motion, the small poodle started to transform into Sirius once again.

"Big huh??" Remus said and laughed heartily at Sirius' poodle transformation.

"Strong??" Peter questioned the baffled Sirius. 

"Definitely _good looking_!!" James said and laughed till he rolled on the floor, clutching his stomach.

"What did I transform into?? Sirius asked quizzically.

"A poodle!!"

"A cute white one!!"

"A small little puppy!!" The three guys continued laughing.

"Hooray!! I'm the first to transform into the animal of my choice!! A dog!!" Sirius jumped in glee.

"You wanna be a poodle??"

"A small and weak poodle??"

"A white and angelic looking puppy??"

"Not that!! At least I turned into a dog. Next time I definitely can become a big, black dog. I rather die than to become a small white puppy." Sirius said. "Hey James, now you try."

"Well, I'm sure I can do better." James said and muttered the spell silently in his head. _Big white stag!! Good-looking stag!! White charming stag!! Normal looking stag!! Strong white stag!! Big strong stag!! _James opened his eyes and saw his three friends looked amazed at his transformation. He walked over to the transfigured mirror to check out his reflection.

_Oh merlin!! I'm a stag!! Let me admire my transformation first._ James the stag looked left and right at the mirror, waved his tail, shook his head, lifted up his limps. _Perfect. Just what I want._  
  


"Hey James, you've been admiring yourself for the last hour. The mirror is going to crack if you look any longer." Sirius said and he jumped onto James the stag.

_Get off me!! _James shook his back to get rid of Sirius who was on top of him.

"Big stag. Not strong enough to move Sirius the Great One!!" Sirius called out and he grabbed tighter onto James the stag's prongs.

"Stop playing around you kids. Why don't you transform back now James??" Remus said, laughing at the two playful boys. It is more right to say one playful boy with a playful stag actually.

James concentrated onto transforming back to his original self with Sirius who was still on his back pulling and tugging his prongs.

"Hey Jamesie, you look great like this." Sirius joked after James transformed back to his original self.

"What??" James gave Sirius the puzzled look and turn to the mirror. "Aahh, why are there still prongs on my head??" James quickly muttered the reverse charm and his prong amazingly disappeared into his head as if it was swallowed.

"Quite successful transformation for our first trial." Remus complimented.

"Definitely!! We can't let anything go wrong." James said confidently. "Pete, try transforming again." Peter still did not managed to transform into a proper rat, but this time he had whiskers and a tail. He muttered the reverse spell himself and looked normal again.

"Let me transform into a big and black and strong and good-looking and-" Sirius said.

"Go straight to the transformation. We can't be bothered if you're good-looking or not. Afterall, it's only a _dog_." James said, sitting on the floor.

"It's not just a dog. It's Sirius the dog!!" Sirius exclaimed and he tried to concentrate to transform. _Big dog!! Black dog!! Grim dog!! Strong dog!! Normal dog!! _Sirius opened his eyes and looked down on his feet.

_I'm a big strong dog!!_ He walked towards the mirror to take a look at himself. Like James, he wagged his tail, tilted his head left and right, held up his padded feet and swinging it. Then he started jumping and barking. _I'm a dog!! I'm a dog!!_

"Jumping dogs are rather rare you know." James said and laughed at Sirius the dog that was jumping in his two hind legs. Sirius the dog leaped onto James and pinned him down and settled on his stomach. "Get off me!! You big and fat and heavy dog!!" James exclaimed. Sirius the dog barked saying that 'I'm not big nor fat nor heavy'. Of course James did not understand a single word of the barking.

"Hey Sirius, you're suffocating James." On the cue, James pretended to be hyperventilating. Sirius the dog then gotten up and concentrate to transform back to the original Sirius.

"Look, no padded foot, no dog ears, no tail. My re-transformation skill is good huh." Sirius said smirking.

"Sir, I suggest you look at the mirror before boosting." James said and laughed.

"Eeewww, why am I all black??" Sirius wrinkled his nose in disgust and quickly muttered the reverse charm.

"You are the big and strong and _black_ dog. Well, I think the colour black suits you. Afterall, you're Sirius _Black_." James said to the now normal looking Sirius.

"Thanks a lot." Sirius said and checked to make sure he was looking perfect once again.

"Hey guys, its dinner time soon. Let's head back to the castle." Remus said, as the shack was getting darker. The Marauders quickly grabbed their parchments and other stuffs, transfiguring the mirror back to the wooden prank and left the shack. They made a quick dash back to Honeydukes after checking the coast was clear.

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"Where are the Marauders??" Lily asked as they left the Gryffindor common room, heading towards the Great Hall for dinner.

"No idea, they're probably at Hogsmeade or something." Stefanie said. _I know the guys are up to something. But what??_

"Why are you two so concern over the Marauders?? Isn't it great to have some peace now and then without their presence??" Arabella pointed out.

"Don't pretend, Bell. We know you missed Sirius. You had been looking around the common room the whole time when we were playing Exploding Snap." Lily teased.

"I didn't."

"You did!!"

"I didn't!!"

"Cut!!"

"What??"

"The Marauders are here." Stefanie said and smiled at the guys who were walking in front of them.

"Where did you guys go for the whole day??" Lily asked.

"We went to you-know-where to take a walk." James replied.

"Why didn't you call us??" Arabella said.

"We wanted an all guys outing. It's troublesome with you girls along." Sirius said. Arabella then started chasing Sirius down the steps.

"Bell and Sir definitely going to look cute together." Lily said as the five of them slowly walked down the steps.

"I don't doubt that." Stefanie giggled as they saw Arabella chasing Sirius down the corridor going round the statues.

"So where did you guys go??" Lily asked James. Stefanie and Remus seemed to be talking animatedly in front of them.

"Hogsmeade." James replied truthfully.

"Why didn't you call us?? We were so bored here."

"As Sirius had said it so bluntly, it's troublesome to let you girls tag along with us."

"What did you guys do there??"

"Exploring the grounds."

"Don't you already have the Hogsmeade map in your head??"

"We do."

"Then??"

"We're trying out the not-so-accessible places."

"No wonder you guys didn't call us."

"That's why."

"Next time take us along please. I want to see the non-so-accessible place in Hogsmeade as well."

"Wait till you know how to walk to Zonkos and Honeydukes from the drop-off point."

"Hey, are you teasing me or what??"

"Teasing you for being street-stupid that's all."

"James Potter!!" Lily shouted and chased James down the steps. Right now, Arabella was chasing Sirius around the statues while Lily chasing James down the moving staircases.

"Don't the four of them look so cute??" Stefanie commented as the three of them continued walking down the steps.

"Well, Lils and Bell usually don't take those sexist sounding remarks quite lightly." Remus said.

"What did James said??"

"I only heard the word street-stupid and I guessed the rest."

"Now I see why." Stefanie laughed and the three fourteen-year-olds walked towards the Great Hall at their own pace, leaving the four of them chasing and hiding from each other.


	44. Gryffindor versus Hufflepuff

**Chapter 43: Gryffindor versus Hufflepuff**

"Don't look at us in that manner." Shannon said as he eyed the four Gryffindors who were giving them threatening looks. "We're going to win the Quidditch cup fair and square."

"We're going to beat you this time." James said confidently. _I'm so much more confident in winning the Quidditch cup again this year. We're going to win!!_

"Don't say too soon." Xavier said. "The match is still a week away."

"We'll definitely beat Hufflepuff this year." Sirius said boldly. _We trained at least ten times harder than before. I don't see how we could lose this match._

"Well, see you guys at the Quidditch pitch." Malcolm said before Lewell started shoving the three Hufflepuffs towards their next class.

"Until we meet." Remus said and continued walking at the opposite direction of the Hufflepuffs.

"Wait till the match and we're going to wipe of those smirks on their faces." James said, grinning.

"Who did they think they were?? Quidditch champions??" Sirius said, with an expression showing great dislike.

"Well, we won't know for sure until the match ends." Remus said, trying to calm a rather worked-up Sirius.

"We're going to win them." Sirius said. "I've this gut feeling."

"I don't usually trust Sirius' gut, do you??" James joked with Remus and Peter.

"Oei!!"

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"Let's give a short introduction of this two fantastic Quidditch teams." Daniel Thomas, a sixth-year Gryffindor and prefect announced over the Quidditch stadium. "From Gryffindor, we've a hunky Andrew Spinnet as Captain and Chaser along with gorgeous Lily Evans and beautiful Arabella Figg. James Potter is our new Keeper for this year while Sirius Black and Remus Lupin as our Beaters again. This year we've the petite Stefanie Black as our Seeker."

  
The Gryffindors cheered loudly from the spectator stands. Some of the Ravenclaw cheered for the Gryffindor.

"For Hufflepuff, we've the four exchange students in the team. Amos Diggory, the Keeper, is the Co-Captain along with Shannon Daoming who is the Chaser along with Xavier Ximen and Barty Crouch. Malcolm Meizuo and Ludo Bagman as Beaters. Lewell Huaze is the Hufflepuff Seeker."

"Now, I want a nice fair game from all of you." Madam Hooch said. She was the resident referee for all Hogwarts official Quidditch Match. She stood in the middle of the pitch with her broom in her hand, waiting for the two teams to gather. "Mount your brooms, please."

The fourteen players clambered onto their broomsticks. Madam Hooch gave a loud blast on her silver whistle and instantly, fifteen brooms rose up, high, high above the stadium.

"Potter stopped the Quaffle in time – Beater Sirius hit the Bludger towards Daoming and nearly knocked him off the broom – Quaffle back to Evans – nice pass to Figg – and nearing the goal post – GRYFFINDOR SCORE!! Sixty to thirty." Daniel Thomas yelled over the pitch. The match was getting more and more excited as the time passed. Lunchtime was long over before anyone even realized it.

"Good pass from Ximen to Daoming – ouch!! Meizuo nearly knock Spinnet off – nice dive Spinnet – Crouch going to score – no – stopped by an excellent move from Potter – Lupin hit a Bludger at Ximen – but missed and hit Diggory instead – Great pass from Figg to Evans and she's about to sc – no – stopped by a Bludger from Bagman -" Daniel announced on and on and soon, more than five hours had passed since the match started. It was getting less exciting for both the players and spectators. Night was falling and the snitch was not caught, though being spotted several times. Lewell had nearly gotten it but Sirius had aimed the Bludger at him in time. Gryffindor was leading two hundred to one hundred and seventy.

"Time-out!!" Madam Hooch shouted in a tired manner. The fourteen brooms landed on the ground with the listless players on them. "Reserve player up. Rotate in eight hours time if the Snitch is yet to be caught."

Most of the audience who were mainly supporters of the Marauders or the Flower Boys were either up in the air continuing the game or returned to their dormitory for a night sleep. Andrew had given them a quick encouraging talk and sent them back to the castle while he remained at the pitch to watch the reserved team playing.

"What a game. I'm totally drained!!" Lily said tiredly.

"Eight hours. The final match seems to be getting longer." James replied in an exhausted tone.

"We've got to be up there at the eighth hour rotation. The team needs us to win." Sirius said. The idea of winning the Hufflepuffs by hook or by crook seemed to give him some invisible energy.

"I think we better sleep at the common room tonight." Arabella said with barely any enthusisium.

"We need to grab some food from the kitchen for dinner and breakfast." Remus said, leading the group towards the kitchen instead of the tower.

"We need to take our at three in the morning!!" Stefanie cried out.

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"WAKE UP!!" Remus and Stefanie shouted as four pails of icy cold water emptied its content onto the sleepyheads in the Gryffindor common room couches. Both of them were the early birds and could always wake up on time.

"Ahh.. So fast??" Lily muttered sleepily.

"I haven't even had enough rest." Arabella said.

"James, don't you dare to say five more minutes or we leviate you down to the pitch." Remus threatened.

"Please leviate us down to the pitch. We need to conserve our energy." James said.

"Get up all of you. Gryffindor is now losing with five hundred to five hundred and eighty!!" Remus yelled at the four sleepy Gryffindors.

"Let's get down to the pitch now!! The Quidditch cup must be ours!!" Sirius said and he grabbed James' hand with Remus to pull him off the armchair.

"Ok ok. I'm able to walk down myself. This is going to be a long long match!!" James said.

"I don't doubt that. It had already lasted for sixteen hours." Lily commented.

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"I don't believe it!!" James exclaimed. "The match with Hufflepuff is still on. Did anyone spot the Snitch??"  
  


"I did!! But Lewell blocked me from catching it since he wasn't able to catch it." Stefanie said sourly.

"We already hit Hogwarts record by playing for five consecutive days. I already forgotten how many times were we rotated??" Lily commented.

"I think at least six. We played twice initially then once every day when they found seven more players." Remus counted.

"The person who is under the most stress is still Andrew. He had been napping at the changing room for the last few days." Sirius said.

"Let's hope the Snitch gets caught soon. We're leading by two hundred points, with three thousand two hundred and ten to three thousand." Arabella said.

"Let's hurry up, we need to take our the eight players before they faint or something." Lily hurried the group.  
  


"The only plus point is that lessons are cancelled until the match ends." James said, grinning.

"Seriously I would prefer lessons over Quidditch, at least we get some decent sleep at night, unlike now." Lily pointed. The six of them were leaving the castle to continue the game at eight in the evening.

"I can't agree with that anymore. Quidditch is great. But there's a limit of playing." Remus said.

"We gotta win. Stef, we're counting on you." Sirius said, looking at his sister.

"I've been trying my best. I will try to catch the Snitch this time." Stefanie said with a new air of confidence.

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"GRYFFINDOR WINS!! Seven thousand six hundred and fifty points to seven thousand and two hundred points." Daniel Thomas announced the moment Stefanie caught the Snitch. The whole stadium broke into cheers because the longest Quidditch match in Hogwarts history had finally came to an end.

"WE WON!!" Sirius shouted the moment they landed.

"We WON!!" Lily jumped in joy, hugging Arabella and Stefanie.

"I'm so tired." Stefanie said, clasping tightly to the struggling Snitch and fainted in Lily arms.

"Stef!!" Lily shouted. The rest of the team quickly gathered around Stefanie, trying to help her up. Remus, without saying anything carried Stefanie up and dashed towards the castle to the Hospital Wing.

"Let's go with Stef and Rem!!" James told Sirius, Lily and Arabella. The four of them excused from the crowd and left the pitch.

"I think I might faint too." Lily said, suddenly she was seeing stars around her.

"Lils!!" Arabella shouted at the fainted Lily.

"Let's go!!" James said as he scoped up Lily into his arms and rushed towards the Hospital Wing.

"Accio Broomsticks." Sirius said and six broomsticks followed them from behind as they run up the castle.

"Madam Pomfrey!!" Arabella called out while the nurse was examining Stefanie.

"Put her on the other bed." Madam Pomfrey instructed. "Out you go. Get a shower first and take some rest."

"What happened to them??" James asked.

"They just faint from exhaustion, must be the Quidditch matches." Madam Pomfrey said as she shook her head, examining Lily now.

"We'll come and see them later." Arabella said as she took a last look at her two best friends. "Guys, let get going back first."

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"Wow!! What a spread!!" Lily exclaimed as Arabella and the Marauders came into the Hospital Wing with bags of food.

"You two need more nutritious food." Arabella said.

"Thanks!! I'm kinda getting tired of the plain potato and chicken mayo here." Stefanie said gratefully.

"I love creamy chicken linguine!!" Lily said and started helping herself with the packed lunch.

"There's no need to hurry. Pomfrey won't be back so soon." James said.

"How did you know??"

"Dumbledore asked to see her."

"Do you guys instigate that??"

"Of course not!!"

"Our pranks can never trick Dumbledore!!"

"We met her outside."

"She knows you guys brought us food??"

"Nope, we hid it until she left."

"Thanks anyway."

"Can't wait to get out here."

"You two faint from exhaustion. I doubt she'll let you off only after three days!!"

"We're perfectly fine now."

"Pomfrey's idea of fine and our idea don't exactly tally."

"We know. Anyway it's nice to escape from lessons for a couple more days."

"Nah, I'm supposed to be bring the homework to you."

"But did you??"

"Yes, here they are!!"

"Oh no!!" Lily and Stefanie groaned in unison as Arabella took out the parchments from her book bag. All of them laughed at their response to homework.


	45. The Trapdoor

**Chapter 44: The Trapdoor**

"What's with the Marauders and Flower Boys??" Lily asked, noticing the two group of guys were glaring at one another with great dislike.

"I've no idea. I think it's only Sirius. Or was it the match??" Stefanie replied, eyeing the two groups of guys who were part eating and part glaring.

"I think they're jealous of each other for having so much attention or something." Arabella said, looking from the Gryffindors to the Hufflepuffs. Many others had noticed the glaring dispute between the two groups and had avoided their paths.

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"Is there something going on between F-Four and Marauders??" Shannie asked suddenly. The four Ravenclaws were eating their dinner at the house table with the rest of the fourth-year Ravenclaw girls.

"There's something going on between them that we don't know." Jennifer said, eyeing the four Hufflepuffs behind her and the Gryffindor in front.

"Like what??" Yvonne asked, did not like disagreement between friendships, shown concern for the two groups of guys. Over the past year, the four of them had become great friends with most of the Gryffindors and Ravenclaws. The Flower Boys, on the other hand, were good friends from school.

"The Match??" Yvette suggested. "F-Four were all out to win but in the end they lost."

"Maybe we can do something between the two groups?" Jennifer said suddenly, as if an ingenious plan had been plotting in her mind.

"Like what??" Shannie asked quizzically.

"Locking the two groups in a classroom and make them fight all they want." Yvette said.

"That's a great idea!!" Yvonne praised.

"That's what I was thinking off exactly." Jennifer said.

"We need to get help Lils, Stef and Bell." Yvette said finally. The four girls exchanged a triumphant grin and looked at how the staring war between the Marauders and F-Four were proceeding.

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"Any idea how to stop those childish guys from their staring war??" Stefanie asked.

"I doubt so. I think they might start a food fight soon." Lily said, eyeing the way James and Sirius fiddling with their chicken chop.

"I won't be surprised. We already had three major food fights this year and countless minor ones this year. Broken the number of food fights in a year in Hogwarts." Arabella said and the three girls laughed.

"So what can we do??" Stefanie asked again.

"Locked the two groups in a room and let them kill one another." Arabella said.

"That sounds like a Wizard Duel." Stefanie commented.

"We need help from Eve, Jen, Shan and Von for the Flower Boys." Lily said.

"I think we should eat faster. I foresee a food fight coming up." Arabella said.

"I think most people predicted that as well." Lily laughed. Most of the people had cleared the Great Hall. Those remained eyed the Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs apprehensively.

"Hey girls, we got something that need your help." Jennifer, along with Yvette, Shannie and Yvonne, came up towards the three girls at the Gryffindor table.

"We need your help on something too." Lily said, grinning.

"Is it about the eight guys??" Yvette said.

"Yes!!" Lily, Arabella and Stefanie chorused.

"Let's get out and talk. I detect a food fight." Arabella said. The seven girls hurried out of the Great Hall, giving one final look at the Marauders and Flower Boys.

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"Where are we going??" James asked the three girls.

"We found this place that time while exploring and we want you guys to come with us." Lily elucidated on how they found that abandoned room. The three girls had tried to find a room far away from the four towers and staff rooms, empty enough so that they would not break anything, big enough so that they could fight all they want, and barely any windows around to make sure no one heard them.

"Why did you want us to go??" Sirius asked playfully.

"Because it's kinda deserted." Arabella said, giving Sirius the don't-ever-think-dirty look.

"Where is it anyway?? There is no place in Hogwarts the Marauders had yet to explore." Remus commented.

"It's at the further towards the end of the Charms corridor." Stefanie said. "You guys don't really explore this part because Charms is never your favorite subject."

"That's true. We didn't bother to explore this portion of the corridor because there's nothing to see!!" James said. "Everyone knows it's a dead end!!"

"It isn't." Lily grinned mischievously. "There's something exciting behind that dead end."

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"Where are we??" James asked.

"Third floor corridor!!" Lily shouted from the door. The Marauders could hear the girls locking the door outside and some charms were being said.

"Alohomora!!" Remus said, pointing his wand at the door. The door did not open the slightest bit.

"What are you girls trying to do??" Sirius shouted. "Stef, how could you do this to your _dearest_ brother??"

"You're my _dearest _brother, that's why I'm doing this to you." Stefanie replied from the outside.

"You guys have fun!!" Arabella shouted before no sound coming from the girls outside. The three girls had actually charmed the door with a soundproof charm, a lock-plus-lock charm and unbreakable charm before leaving, giggling away.

"What are they trying to do??" Remus said, bewildered.

"No idea. We never explored this part of the castle before, did we??" James commented, looking around the large room.

"Look!! I've this Persian carpet at home!!" Sirius said excitedly at the large rectangular carpet, which was in front of them. The rooms seemed to be full of carpets and the walls were rather empty. There were barely any windows except some small windows high above.

"Who cares?? Anyway why is there such a big empty room in the castle??" James said, deep in thought.

"There might be something special around here. Maybe one of those shelves actually open to a trapdoor or something??" Sirius said excitedly.

"Shan!! Get us out!!" Shannon shouted at the top of his voice.

"What are you girls trying to do??" Xavier yelled.

"Sorry guys, but this is just for fun!!" Jennifer shouted from the outside. The four girls giggles suddenly died down and no more sound could be heard.

"What the hell??" Malcolm muttered. The Flower Boys turned around and ended up face-to-face with the Marauders.

"Now I finally know what's going on." James said, grinning.

"What??" The Flower Boys looked totally confused.

"They're really dumb." Sirius whispered and the Marauders chuckled.

"So what can we do here??" Shannon asked.

"How about a Wizard Duel??" James suggested.

"Good idea. We-" Before Shannon finished his sentence, a carpet flew up and hovered on top of the Flower Boys for awhile before it dropped straight on them.

"Hey!!"

"Ouch!!" Muffled voices of the four boys could be heard from the Flower Boys underneath the rather huge and heavy carpet.

"Wingardium Leviosa!!" Suddenly four different carpets from different direction flew towards the Marauders and crashed together in mid-air.

"Ouch!!"

"Get up!!"

"I'm trying!!" The Marauders crawled their way out from the carpet heap.

"Hey look!!" James said, he spotted something like a trapdoor on the uncovered ground.

"Don't try to trick us to look behind, Potter!!" Shannon said angrily.

"We're not doing anything. Let's go and check out the trapdoor." James instructed and the Marauders walked towards the trapdoor.

"There's really a trapdoor, Shannon." Lewell said.

"Let's check it out." Xavier said, pulling Shannon along with him.

James bent down and pulled the ring of the trapdoor, which swung up and opened.

"What can you see??" Sirius asked.

"Nothing – just black – there's no way of climbing down, we'll just have to drop."

"Who says anything about going down??" Shannon said.

"No one. But we, being the Marauders, explore the school grounds whenever possible. We definitely can't miss a new discovery." Sirius said.

"Who want to go first??" Peter asked timidly.

"You sure you want to go first?? Are you sure??" said Sirius. "No one knows how deep this thing goes."

"Might as well as give it a try. I'm jumping in first. Will give you a cue when I'm at the bottom." James said bravely and he climbed over it and looked down through the trapdoor once again. There was no sign of the bottom. He lowered himself through the hole until he was hanging on by his fingertips. Then James turned to Sirius and said, "If anything happens to me, don't follow. Go get help and get me up, okay??"

"No prob, Jamesie!!" Sirius shouted at the dropping James.

After James let go, cold, damp air rushed past him as he fell down, down, down and –

FLUMP!! With a funny, muffled sort of thump, he landed on something soft. He sat up and felt around, his eyes not used to the dark. It felt as though he was sitting on some sort of plant.

"It's OK!" James called up to the light the size of a postage stamp, which was the opened trapdoor. It's a soft landing, you can jump!!"

Sirius followed straight away and he landed right next to James.

"What's this stuff??" were Sirius' first words.

"Dunno, some sort of plant thing. I suppose it's here to break the fall. Come on Rem and Pete!!" James shouted up to the light. Remus and Peter jumped down together and landed in front of James and Sirius.

"We must be miles under the school." Remus said.

"Lucky this plant thing's here." Sirius said.

"Lucky??" James joked. "Look at you both!!" He leapt up and struggled towards a damp wall. Peter followed James movement instinctively. Both of them had to struggle because the moment they had landed, the plant had started to twist snake-like tendrils around their ankles. As for Sirius and Remus, their legs had already been bound tightly in long creepers without their noticing.

James and Peter had managed to free themselves before the plant got a firm grip on them. Now the two of them watched how Sirius and Remus fought to pull the plant off them, but the more they strained against it, the tighter and faster the plant wound around them.

"Stop moving." Peter said suddenly. "This is the Devil's Snare. It likes the dark and damp-"

James pointed out his hand and muttered a spell and sent a get of the bluebell flames at the plant. In a matter of seconds, the two boys felt it loosening its grip as it cringed away from the light and warmth. Wriggling and flailing, it unraveled itself from their bodies and they were able to pull free.

"Let's get going." James said and pointed at a stone passageway, which was the only way on.

FLUMP!! FLUMP!! FLUMP!!

"Hey, wait for us!!" Lewell called out to the retreating Marauders.

"Why should we??" Sirius said sarcastically.

"Because we're going to explore this together, right Shannon??" Xavier said.

"Alright then. Who knows what's lie beyond??" James said and he pointed his wand the Flower Boys and muttered the same flaming spell. The creepers unraveled from the four guys instantly.

"Thanks!!" Lewell said. "Let's explore together, shall we??" The eight guys walked in silence down the slope, which was their only route. All they could hear apart from their footsteps was the gentle drip of water trickling down the walls.

"Can you hear something??" James said. The walls around echoed.

They listened. A soft rustling and clinking seemed to be coming from up ahead.

"Do you think it's a ghost??" Peter asked.

"I don't know.. sounds like wings to me." Shannon commented.

"There's light ahead – I can see something moving." Sirius said as he pointed to the front.

They reached the end of the passageway and saw before them a brilliantly lit chamber, its ceiling arching high above them. It was full of small, jewel-bright birds, fluttering and tumbling all around the room. On the opposite side of the chamber was a heavy, wooden door.

"Do you think they'll attach us if we cross the room??" Remus said.

"Probably." James looked around. "They don't look very vicious, but I suppose if they all swoop down at once.. well, there's nothing for it.. we'll run."

The eight boys covered their faces with their arms and sprinted across the room. All of them ended up opposite, untouched by the flying objects. James pulled the handle, but it was locked.

The guys all tried pulling the handle, tugging and heaving at the door, but it did not budge at all.

"Alohomora!!" Sirius said. The door did not moved at all. "Why on earth is this call door-unlocking charm when it failed to open door twice in a day??" Sirius complained.

"Now what??" Malcolm asked.

"These birds.. they can't be here just for decoration." James said thoughtfully.

The eight of them watched the birds soaring overhead, glittering brightly.

"They're not birds!!" Shannon said suddenly.

"They're keys!! Winged keys – look carefully. So that must mean.." James looked around the chamber while the rest squinted up at the flock of flying keys.

"Yes – look!! Broomsticks!! We've got to catch the key to the door!!"  
  


"But there are _hundreds_ of them!!" Shannon commented.

Remus examined the lock on the door.

"We're looking for a big, old-fashioned one – probably silver, like the handle." Remus said finally.

They seized a broomstick each and kicked off the air, soaring into the midst of the cloud of keys. They grabbed and snatched but the bewitched keys darted and dived so quickly it was almost impossible to catch one.

James seemed to have a knack for spotting things other people could not. After a minute's weaving about through the whirl of rainbow feathers, he noticed a large silver key that had bent wings, as if it had already been caught several times.

"That one!!" James called out to the others. "That big one – there – no, there – with bright blue wings – the feathers are all crumpled up."

All eight guys went speeding in the direction that James was pointing, Peter and Malcolm crashed into the ceiling and nearly fell off his broom while Remus and Lewell crashed onto each other.

"We've got to close in on it!!" James called, not taking his eyes off the key with the damaged wings. "Sir, you come at it from above – Remus, stay below and stop it going down – and Shannon and I'll try and catch it from the opposite directions. Right, NOW!!"

Sirius and Xavier dived while Remus and Lewell rocketed upwards, the key dodged them both and James and Shannon streaked after it; it sped towards the wall. James leant forward and with a nasty crunching noise, pinned it against the stone with one hand. Cheers echoed around the high chamber from all the guys.

They landed quickly while James and Shannon ran to the door, the key struggling in Shannon's hand now. He rammed it into the lock and turned – it worked. The moment the lock had clicked open, the key took flight again, looking very battered now that it had been caught once again.

"Ready to go?" Shannon asked the other seven, his hand on the door handle. All of them nodded excitedly and he pulled the door opened.

The next chamber was so dark that they could not see anything at all. But after the eight stepped into it, light suddenly flooded the room to reveal an astonishing sight. They were standing on the edge of a huge chessboard, behind the black chessmen, which were all taller than they were and carved from what looked like black stone. Facing them, way across the chamber, were the white pieces. The eight boys exchanged a look – the towring white chessmen had no faces.

"No what do we do??" Shannon asked.

"It's obvious, isn't it??" James said. "We've got to play our way across the room."

Behind the white pieces they could see another door.

"How??" Peter asked nervously.

"This is getting exciting!!" Sirius exclaimed.

"I think we're going to have to be chessmen." James said, looking at the missing parts of the black pieces. "Rem, you're our best player, we trust you to instruct the moves."

"I think Vell can do better." Shannon said suddenly. "He is talented in Wizard Chess since kindergarten."

"How about Rem and Vell combine their ideas??" James suggested.

"Good idea." All of them nodded in agreement.

"Do all of us have to participate??" Sirius asked.

"I think so." Remus said; they started positioning themselves onto the giant chessboard. "James, Shannon, you two shall be the knight. Sirius and Xavier, the bishops. Peter and Malcolm, the Castle. Lewell and me shall play as the pawn." The chessmen seemed to have been listening because at these words, the one bishop, two knights and one castle, as well as four pawns turned their backs on the white pieces and walked off the board leaving eight empty squares, which the eight of them took.

"White always plays first in chess." Lewell said coolly, peering across the board. "Yes.. look.."

A white pawn had moved forward two squares.

Lewell and Remus started to direct the black piece, both seems to be thinking along the same line. They moved excitedly wherever they were sent to.

Their first real shock came when one of the pawns was taken. The white queen smashed him to the floor and dragged him off the board, where he laid quite still, face down.

"Don't worry." Lewell said calmly. " I assure you that none of us will get hit." Both of them continued to manipulate the chess pieces.

Finally the white king took off his crown and threw it at James the knight feet. They had won. The chessmen parted and bowed, leaving the door ahead clear. They walked confidently towards the door and up the next passageway together.

"What do you reckon's next??" Sirius asked gleefully.

"We've had Sprout's, that was the Devil's Snare – Flitwick must've put charms on the keys – McGonagall transfigured the chessmen to make them alive – that leaves Plain's spell and Porky's.." James pointed out.

They had reached another door.

"Ready??" Shannon asked the group.

"Go on, dude!!" Remus said encouraging, grinning at Lewell. Lewell returned with a grin, which was rare because he seldom smile.

A disgusting smell filled their nostrils, making them pull up their robes over their noses. Eyes watering, they saw a troll right in front of them. Shannon closed the door again.

"What shall we do now??"

"Fight the troll."

"Or turn back."

"Let's vote."

"All for fighting the troll."

"How??"

"Stupefy??"

"Is our stunning spell strong enough to tackle the big troll??"

"I remembered that eight people saying the stunning charm together could knock a dragon out cold."

"Well, for excitement sake. Let's do it."

"Yes!!"

"Once I open the door and count one, two three. All of us say the spell at the exact same time"

"If he did not get stunned, we can still close the door."

"Ok, here I go." James opened the door to reveal a full-grown mountain troll. "One, two, three."

"STUPEFY!!!!!" The eight of them shouted exactly at the same time. The troll dropped down onto the ground instantly with a loud thud that made the whole room tremble.

"We did it!!"

"Shannon and I shall go forward first, if anything happen, the six of you back us up by shouting the stunning spell. Once we reach the other end, the next two come forward."

"Ok, let's go!!"

James and Shannon made a quick sprint as they stepped carefully over one of its massive legs and reached the other end at record time. Soon after, two by two, the eight of them reached the other end of the room.

"Come on, I can't breathe!!" Shannon muttered.

James pulled open the next door, both of them hardly dare to look at what came next – but there was nothing very frightening in here, just a table with seven differently shaped bottles standing on it in a line.

"Porky's." Sirius muttered.

They stepped over the threshold and immediately a fire sprang up behind them in the doorway. It was not an ordinary fire either; it was purple. At the same instant, black flames shot up in the doorway leading onwards. They were trapped.

"Oh no!!"

"Look!!" Lewell seized a roll of paper lying next to the bottles. The rest of them looked over his shoulder to read it:

_Danger lies before you, while safety lies behind,_

_Two of us will help you, whichever you would find,_

_One among us seven will let you move ahead,_

_Another will transport the drinker back instead,_

_Two among our number hold only nettle wine,_

_Three of us are killers, waiting hidden in line._

_Chose, unless you wish to stay here evermore,_

_To help you in your choice, we give you these flues four:_

_First, however slyly the poison tries to hide_

_You will always find some on nettle wine's left side;_

_Second, different are those who stand at either end,_

_But if you would move onwards, neither is your friend;_

_Third, as you see clearly, all are different size,_

_Neither dwarf nor giant holds death in their insides;_

_Fourth, the second left and the second on the right_

_Are twins once you taste them, though different at first sight._

Lewell and Remus actually smiled at the puzzle.

"Brilliant, this isn't magic – it's logic – a puzzle. A lot of the greatest wizards haven't got an ounce of logic, they'd be stuck in here forever."

"But so will we, won't we??"

"Of course not, James said. "Everything we need is here on this paper. Seven bottles: three are poison; two are wine; one will get us safely through the black fire and one will get us back through the purple."

"But how do we know which is to drink?"

"Give us a minute."

James, Sirius, Remus and Lewell read the paper several times then they walked up and down the line of bottles, muttering and discussing and pointing at them. At last, they high-fived with one another.

"Got it. The smallest bottle will get us through the black fire." James spoke up.

They looked at the small bottle.

"I think it should be enough for all of us." Sirius said. "One small mouthful per person, alright??"

"Which one will get us back through the purple flames??"

Remus pointed at a rounded bottle at the right end of the line.

"Let's drink and quickly walk through before the potion wear off." James said and they moved towards the black flame. He took a small sip.

"What does it taste like?"

"It's not poison??" Peter asked cautiously.

"No – but it's like ice. I see you at the other end." James turned and walked straight through the purple fire. It was indeed as though ice was flooding his body. He saw the black flames licking his body but could not feel them – for a moment he could see nothing but dark fire – then he was on the other side, in the last chamber.

_Wow. What's that shiny reddish thing on the stand??_ James walked towards the table at the center of the chamber.

"Yo man." Sirius called out and he walked towards James. "What's that??"

"Hey." Remus followed in next. "Jeez. What's that??"

"It looks like a precious stone." Shannon walked in after Peter towards the four guys standing in the center.

"I don't think it's just a simple stone." Xavier commented and walked towards them.

"It's like a blood-red ruby." Malcolm said, eyeing the tiny stone at the center.

"It's the Sorcerer's Stone." Lewell walked in finally and said.

"Sorcerer Stone??" Peter asked.

"So this is the famous legendary Sorcerer Stone of the Wizarding World." Shannon said, looking at it with interest.

"The ancient study of alchemy is concerned with making of the Sorcerer Stone, a legendary substance with astonishing powers." James said.

"The Stone will transform any metal into pure gold." Sirius continued. "It also produces the Elixir of Life, which will make the drinker immortal."

"There've been many reports of the Sorcerer Stone over the centuries, but the only Stone currently in existence belongs to Nicholas Flamel, the noted alchemist. He is the only known maker of the Stone." Lewell added.

"Albus Dumbledore must be Nicholas Flamel partner in the work on alchemy. This must be the legendary Stone they created." Remus said knowingly.

"Very good. You boys know your work very well." Albus Dumbledore clapped and suddenly appeared in the chamber.

"Professor Dumbledore." The eight boys chorused in a shock.

"I'm really glad that the eight of you worked together, for the first time in the whole year." Dumbledore said. The eight guys looked at each other and grinned happily.

"Well, it was coincidence that we discover the trapdoor and the chambers."

"All the staff knows about this though. But I never expect any student will be able to find the trapdoor and cross this five obstacles we've set." Dumbledore said, smiling at the group.

"Well, I guess that's what is called teamwork." James spoke up.

"Very good. Let's get out of here." Dumbldore said.

"How??" Shannon asked.

"Close your eyes. Don't try to peak, Sirius." Sirius then shut his eyes tightly. Dumbledore muttered something and the next moment, all of them were back in his office. "You may open your eyes now."

"How did we end up in your office??" James asked, bewildered. _I'm quite sure my feet never left the ground._

"Aha, that's magic." Dumbledore said and winked behind his half moon spectacles.

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"I wonder how are the eight guys doing." Lily said, after about five hours later. It was dinner time now and the seven girls had been talking about what could had happened inside the locked room.

"Well, let's release them tomorrow. It would be nice to let them spend the night together." Arabella joked.

"I don't think we need to release them tomorrow because they're here for dinner with us." Stefanie said smiling. The six other girls turned to look at the entrance of the Great Hall.

"Wow, they look fine." Jennifer grinned.

"They look happy to me." Shannie said in amazement.

"Whatever did they do inside??" Yvette questioned.

"We had done a good deed." Yvonne commented and smiled.

Everyone else in the Great Hall had turned to look at the eight boys in amazement. They were walking together, joking and laughing together as if they were friends for ages. It was indeed an amazing sight since the guys had been shooting daggers, not literally, at one another for almost the whole school year.

"I bet they're discussing about a major prank." Jennifer said.

"I don't doubt that. Two group of prankster come together. What do we get??" Lily joked.

"An ultimate prank of the century." Yvette said. The girls giggled.

"How about when seven of the most amazing girls come together??" Arabella said.

"A miracle!!" Stefanie replied, glancing at the eight happy fourteen-year-old boys who were sitting together at the Gryffindor table.


	46. One Year Friendship

**Chapter 45: One-Year Friendship**

"So what do you suggest for the prank??" James asked. The eight guys were now sitting at the Three Broomsticks sipping Butterbeers. The Marauders had led them out via the tunnel because Lewell was able to cast the invisibility charm perfectly.

"On the Slytherins or the whole school??" Shannon questioned.

"Both??" Sirius said greedily.

"How about charming their boxers??"

"Make their boxers follow them wherever they walk for the whole week??"

"We've one free week between after exams and before results."

"Just make the boxers follow their owner??"

"Sounds a little boring."

"What do you suggest??"

"Boxers _chase_ their owners??"

"Sounds good."

"Charm their boxers the on Sunday night??"

"Can't be any better."

"Then what about the end-of-year prank??"

"It's very important."

"Why??"  
  


"It's the only prank that never get us into any detention nor minus off any house points. It is always the prank of the year whereby everyone will be talking about it."

"Sounds cool."

"So what shall be the prank of the year??"

"Let's make it prank of the century."

"What do you suggest??"

"I've an idea actually." James said, eyes gleaming mischievously.

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"GET AWAY FROM ME!!" Lucius shouted at his shooting boxers as he dashed into the Great Hall. Followed closely behind were Severus, Gordon and Vaness.

"MARAUDERS!! YOU'RE GOING TO GET IT!!" Severus shouted the moment he dashed into the Great Hall.

"Why are those stuffs that are flying??"

"I think they're boxers."

"Look at Malfoy penguin prints boxer!!"

"I think Snape's butterfly printed ones are funnier."

"Do you think Porky will have chasing boxers as well??"

"Malfoy is getting hit by his 'I Love Daddy' boxers."

"Naughty naughty."

"There's a big hole in front of Crabbe's hamburger prints boxers!!"

"Where??"

"The front part!!"

"Goyle got a big hole in the back of his chocolate muffins prints boxers!!"

"Crabbe got hole in front and Goyle got hole behind."

"Do you think-"

"I rather not think about it!!"

"I didn't know Slytherins guys like such _cute _boxers."

"Probably the Marauder's designed them??"

"They've plain colored boxers."

"Imagine if the Marauders have their underwear flying around."

"Or the Flower Boys."

"I will definitely grab one of each for myself."

"I think I only want James and Shannon's boxers."

The Marauders and the Flower Boys walked into the Great Hall on Monday morning, grinning and laughing at the scene whereby all the Slytherins were ducking away from their boxers as if they were bludgers.

"It's sure an _appetizer_ for breakfast." Shannon said laughing.

"Well, it is. We don't even need to do much modifications on their underwear!!" James said looking at Lucius whose underwear hit his head and pushed it into the cereal in front of him.

"These underwear are absolutely original." Sirius said grinning at Severus who was glaring at the eight boys angrily.

"I think the ultimate was Crabbe and Goyle. Their large holes in their underwear might have more meaning to it." Xavier joked.

"Wasted we can't do it on Porky." Remus said cheekily.

"He would be a very interesting victim." Lewell agreed.

"Well, let just wait for the prank of the century." James grinned and the eight guys exchanged a cheeky look.

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"I wonder if they got the boxers idea from us." Lily said, laughing together with the people in the Great Hall.

"I think so. Look at their design. I don't think Malfoy would ever wear an 'I Love Daddy' boxers." Stefanie pointed out.

"Only James does, right??" Arabella teased.

"I don't think this is their ultimate plan." Lily said, eyeing the eight guys at the end of the Gryffindor table who were talking animatedly.

"Definitely not. They'll have something up on the last day." Stefanie said.

"Remember don't touch the food or drink unless they touch them." Arabella reminded.

"How could we forget??" Lily said and laughed at their memory of the floating potion in their previous school year.

33333333333333333333

"I can't believe today is our last day of school here!!" Yvette exclaimed as the seven girls enjoyed their last dinner together at Hogwarts for the year.

"Neither can I. We've only three more years to go before we graduate!!" Lily said, talking more than eating.

"We're going to miss Hogwarts so much!!" Jennifer said, looking around the Great Hall where all of them spent their meals together.

"Maybe can ask for another transfer here again?? Or perhaps study here for good??" Stefanie suggested. The friendship the seven girls built up in the past year had embedded deeply.

"We've more fun here in one year than our entire life in Yingde!!" Shannie said truthfully.

"We can meet up during summer breaks?? And owl one another frequently??" Arabella suggested.

"I think that's the only way. We can keep the long distant kind of contact." Yvonne said.

"Something like our parents." Lily said and smiled at Yvette.

"I think that's the only way, right??" Jennifer said.

"There's the muggle ways as well." Arabella added.

"Did anyone notice that eight guys are missing from dinner??" Lily said suddenly.

"Now that you mentioned it." The seven girls looked along the Gryffindor table and the Hufflepuff table for the Marauders and Flower Boys.

"I detect a major prank coming up." Shannie said.

"Could it be in the food??"

"I don't know."

"They're probably eating in the kitchens."

"Or preparing their prank."

"Or pulling their prank."

Suddenly eight broomsticks flew into the Great Hall. Everyone looked up and to see what happening.

"Marauders and F-Four!!"

"That's so cool!!"

"Look, they writing something in the air."

The eight guys wrote 'Marauders and Flower Boys rules forever and ever..' then the glittery powder dropped all over the Great Hall onto the student population. Girls were cheering away from the bottom, admiring the eight guys on air doing a short display of broomstick stunts.

"Look, they drawing the Hogwarts crest in midair!!"

"They're so talented!!"

"I never thought the crest look that great!!"

The glittery powder slowly dropped after the completed crest stands for five minutes in mid-air. They took out their wands and dipped in the container of glittery powder and wrote their own names on mid-air.

"I'm going to miss the Flower Boys so much!!"

"They're so cool!!"

"They're the hottest guys in the school this year."

"And the most popular too!!"

"Marauders and F-Four rules!!

The powder slowly dropped onto everyone else. Now the students actually started to look glittery. The eight broomsticks then flew round and round the Great Hall, splattering the glittery powder on everyone. People cheered and booed. They did not even heed Professor McGonagall and Professor Sprout commands to go down.

After the great display of stunts and stuffs, the eight guys said a big thank you and flew out of the Great Hall.

"What was that for??" Lily asked.

"Glittery powder takes ages to remove." Arabella said.

"Muggle stuffs." Shannie added.

"This powder is not just simply glittery. I think it's more than that." Jennifer said, brushing some powder off her arm and sniffed it.

"What is it??" Stefanie asked.

"No idea. But it's something more than just glittering powder." Yvonne looked at it.

"I think it's animal powder." Yvette said.

"I thought so too." Jennifer commented.

"What is animal powder??" Lily, Arabella and Stefanie asked together.

"It changes the person who come into contact to an animal that suit the personality." Jennifer explained.

"We're still sitting here looking normal." Lily pointed out.

"It effects only come fifteen minute upon contact." Yvette added. "And last for about ten hours."

"It was commonly used before Animagi was discovered." Jennifer said.

POP!! PoP!! Pop!! poP!! pOp!!

Suddenly everyone started transforming to some animal.

"What's happening??"

"I hate snakes!!"

"Look at the cobra!!"

"Oh my god!!"

"What's going on??"

Most of the people at the Slytherin had transformed to various form of snakes and serpents. Most of them were amphibians and reptiles. At the Hufflepuff table, badgers of various colours popped out. Mammals like rabbits and squirrels were moving around the tabletop nibbling at their food. From the Ravenclaw table, birds of all sort of feather were flocking together. Some became eagles while some vultures. Smaller birds like sparrows and canaries were found too.

The largest animals were probably found at the Gryffindor table. Lions, tigers, leopards, cheetahs, horses, etc were sitting at the Gryffindor benches. It was a surprise that the chairs had not gave way with Lily the tiger sitting on it, Arabella the lion and Stefanie the horse sitting on them.

All sorts of animal sounds could be heard in the Great Hall that evening. Animals were moving around the castle whether by air or by foot. It was quite an interesting sight to watch a tiger, a horse and a lion, sitting together along the corridor and talking in their own animal language.

There were many other animals loitering along all the classrooms and corridors because most of the animals could not return to their dormitory because none of them managed to say the password at all. The portraits refused to admit the animals because they did not say the password correctly in the right language.

Jennifer the swan, Yvette the robin, Shannie the kingfisher and Yvonne the canary flew over to join the tiger, horse and lion and sat together by the window along the third floor corridor. In the outside, other animals could be found mingling together as well.

33333333333333333333

"Don't you think our prank of the century is successful??" James asked.

"Definitely." Shannon agreed.

"I don't think we can return to the castle at all. Animals have better instinct so they might detect us easier."

"We can't hide in the towers either. McGonagall and Sprout is bound to be looking for us."

"No one knows about this except the girls and us. Altogether fifteen of us."

"This is one of the safest place in Hogwarts when the whole school is against you."

"Well, it gives them a feeling of being Animagus."

"We didn't do anything wrong, right??"

"Luckily we gotten enough food from the kitchen to last the whole night."

"Let's conjure up some mattresses."

"We need to return to the castle by dawn."

"How do we know if it's dawn??"

"I've got a watch by the way."

"Ok, let's sleep."

"Good night."

33333333333333333333

"Great prank!!"

"Thanks for yesterday!!"

"Good job!!"  
  


"Any more animal powder??"

"Thanks!!"

"So everyone had a great time last night." James concluded judging from the happy faces around the people in the Gryffindor common room.

"Where did you guys hide last night??" Lily asked, walked down from the female dormitory.

"We went somewhere to do men's talk." James replied. Lily, Arabella and Stefanie burst into laughter.

"Who are the men?? You guys?? As in the Marauders?? Oh please." Lily commented.

"Hey, we did so much for everyone so that all of you can enjoy being an animal for ten hours." Sirius said. "And this is how you repay us??"

"It was just another prank to you." Arabella said dryly.

"It was brilliant, don't you think so?? Animal powder is practically extinct!!" Remus exclaimed in pretended shock.

"It's brilliant alright, but you guys should join us. It was like animal farm in Hogwarts last night." Stefanie joked.

"No one could enter the towers so in the end everyone stayed outdoor and hung out together." Lily explained.

"What did Malfoy and Snape transformed into??" James asked the girls.

"Malfoy became a serpent, Snape became a green snake, Crabbe and Goyle became terrapins I think." Lily answered. The group started laughing as they thought of how the Slytherins looked.

"Hey, I think we better head down for breakfast." James instructed and the rest of them just followed him out of the tower.


	47. The Accident

**Chapter 46: The Accident**

"Why didn't Lily receive our letters??" Stefanie asked the group who were gathered together at the Potter's Manor once again in the summer holiday. Her owl, Precious, had returned again without making the delivery.

"Could something have happened to her??" Arabella asked fearfully.

"I can give her a call to her house."

"Is her house connected to the Floo Network??"

"I think so, let's try." They walked into the Potter's fireplace, which was large enough to hold all five of them.

"Evan's House!!" They chorused. After spinning and passing many fireplaces, they stopped and ended up the living room of Evans'.

"Lily!! Are you there??" Arabella called out.

"No one at home." Stefanie commented.

"Why don't we go and ask their neighbours or something??" James said.

"I think we go will do. You guys stay here and don't let anyone know that we're inside the house." Stefanie said as she and Arabella exited the house.

"Yes??" Lily's neighbor opened the door and asked the two girls.

"We're Lily's friends and we hasn't heard from her for a week, do you know what happened to her family??"

"We've no idea. I was trying to contact Dawn for the last couple of days."

"Thank you." Arabella and Stefanie walked back to the house.

"They can't just disappear."

"Oh no!!"

"Look!!"

"The death mark!!" Arabella and Stefanie quickly ran into the house and pulled James, Sirius and Remus back to the fireplace.

"Faster floo back home."

"W-what happening??"

"We'll talk when we get back."

"Potter's Manor." They shouted and returned to the Potter's living room in no time. The five quickly dashed into James' bedroom.

"So can you explain what happened now??"

"There's a death mark on top of Lily's house." Arabella said in a horrified tone.

"WHAT??"

"Let's get to Dumbledore." A knock from the door suddenly interrupted their conversation.

"Master James, you've a visitor. Madam wants all of you to go down immediately." James' butler reported.

"Let's go." The five of them dashed down the steps.

"Dumbledore, something happened to Lily!!" James said in a worried tone.

"I'm here to tell you that." Dumbledore said in a rather graved manner.

"Is Lily alright??" Stefanie asked fearfully.

"She's alright now. In Hogwarts with Poppy." Dumbledore explained. All of them were listening to Dumbledore intensely. "Her family met with a car accident. The car lost control and collided into the tree at a deserted road. They were only found two days after the accident, which was yesterday. Lily's parents had died in the crash, while she had survived. She was sent to muggle hospital. Minerva and I had gone to fetch her to St Mungo for a check up and right now she is in coma and resting at Hogwarts."

"Can we go and see her??" Arabella asked anxiously.

"Of course you may."

"But Dumbledore, I don't think it was just a car accident."

"It wasn't. Voldemort had sent deatheaters to meddle with the brakes of the car." All of them gasped in horror at the fact. "How did you know that??"

"We went to her house and saw the death mark."

"I think Voldemort had found out about the six of you."

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"Lily!! Can you hear us??" Arabella called out to a comatose Lily, holding her left hand.

"Lily, it's us. Your best friends." Stefanie held her right hand.

"Stef, why don't you enter her dreams??" James suggested. Stefanie nodded and closed her eyes, holding onto Lily's hand.

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_Lily, can you hear me?? It's me Stefanie!!_

_Lils, I'm Bell!!_

_Where are you??_

_Can you wake up??_

_We miss you._

_Lily!!_

_Lils!!_

_What??_

_Lils!!_

_What's happening??_

_You're in a coma!!_

_I'm very tired, I want to sleep._

_You've been sleeping for ages already._

_Wake up now!!_

_We're all so worried about you._

_What happened to me??_

_Get up and talk._

_Ok._

33333333333333333333

Lily stirred in her sleep and opened her eyes, blinking several times to adjust to the lights.

"Lily!! You're up!!" Sirius exclaimed dramatically.

"Huh, yeah."

"We're all so worried about you." James said with concern.

"Who are you??"

"I'm James, he's Sirius, that's Remus and Peter." James introduced, rather confused.

"Stef, who is James??" Lily asked.

"James is our friend." Stefanie replied, looking from James to Lily and Lily to James.

"You don't remember us??" James asked.

"I don't remember you." Lily said honestly.

"Do you remember us??" Remus asked.

"Yes, Remmy."

"We better get Madam Pomfrey." Madam Pomfrey hurried over and examined the just awaken Lily.

"What happened to her??"

"I think she lost part of her memory." Madam Pomfrey explained. "It could be temporary or permanent. It's very common to suffer from amnesia after a car accident."

"Car accident??" Lily said to herself. "What happened to me??"

"You met an accident." Arabella said soothingly.

"Then??"

"Then you ended up in a coma. Stef and I have to go and wake you up."

"What about my parents??"

"They are.. dead." Stefanie said in a soft whisper. All of them looked at her, awaiting some sort of response.

"Oh dear. I'm a healer and yet I can save them." Lily said, starting to tear.

"It's not your fault."

"I know."

"We're here for you."

"Thanks Stef, I'm fine."

"Was it Voldemort??"

"Yes."

"How did you know??"

"I had a dream of my parents meeting an accident that day. No matter how much I persuaded them not to go, but dad said it was an important business meeting. The only way I thought I could protect them was by going with them." Lily said, trying to remember the details.

"Well.."

"Don't worry. I'm sad. But people will have to die some day. My parents just left me earlier than I thought."

"I'm glad you aren't brooding over it."

"I'm not such a person. I don't fear death just like I don't fear Voldemort."

"Remember, we're here when you need us."

"I need a shoulder to cry on."

"C'mon." Stefanie sat next to Lily. She leaned her head on her shoulder and started crying.

"You'll feel better after letting it out."

"I know." Lily whispered. _I'll be strong. Stronger and braver than ever._ She continued sobbing until she just dozed off on Stefanie's shoulder.

 Stefanie and Arabella put her back to bed and pulled up the covers.  Then they settled at the next bed and started talking softly.

"Is she really alright??" James asked, looking at the tear-stricken Lily.

"I trust her. She had always been an optimist." Stefanie said.

"I agree. We know each other for four years. This is the first time I ever seen her cry." Sirius said.

"Crying is a form of releasing her sadness. She cries to mourn for her parents. She won't breakdown just like that." Arabella said.

"Let's hope so." Remus whispered.

"I'm sure. Lils is one of the strongest girl I know." Stefanie said confidently.

33333333333333333333

"You really have no recollection of me at all??" James asked Lily. They had come to pick her up from Hogwarts. Stefanie had asked Lily to stay with her and Arabella at the Black's Mansion.

"Nope. I don't remember. But I think your memories should have fill up the empty spaces in my head." Lily smiled.

"I hope so."

"Definitely. I'm sure someday I'll remember you again. If not I just have to get to know you all over again."

"Hey Bell, Stef, I need to go home to collect my stuffs first."

"We'll go with you."

"Thanks guys."

33333333333333333333

"Don't ever come back here again, freak!!" Petunia shouted at Lily the moment she entered the living room with her friends.

"Don't worry, I won't." Lily retorted. "I stayed here because of Mum and Dad. Now that they're gone, there's nothing left for me here. You can be assured I'm gone for good this time." Lily climbed up the stairs with Arabella and Stefanie closely behind her.

"You alright??"  
  
"Yup. Don't make it sound like something might happen to me or something." Lily said, and gave an assuring smile at them.

"We're just worried, you know."

"I understand. Thanks. Hey, help me grab everything possible. I need to get everything for good."

"No problem."

33333333333333333333

"Let's go." Lily said, after getting several more things around the living room.

"Don't ever come back."

"I won't."

"Lils, done??"  
  


"Yup. Let's go. Bye Petunia."

"Why do you say bye to her??"  
  


"Anyway I won't see her again. Why not??"

"Now you've us!!"

"Thanks James."

33333333333333333333

_Bell, let's read Lils' mind. I'm worried about her._

_I know. Let's read for at least two hours._

_Mummy, Daddy, I miss you. I'll be strong and live on. Don't worry. You'll live on in my heart till the day I die. Finally I'm free from Petunia. But that means losing both of you. Anyway mum, dad, you're the best parents anyone could have!!_ Lily yawned and turned around to hug a pillow and dozed off instantly.

_She is really fine.  
  
_

_I'm totally convinced._


	48. Coping With Loss

**Chapter 47: Coping With Loss**

"Who was the post for??" Stefanie asked as Tinkerbell flew off into the night sky.

"Yvette. I just want to inform her parents about my parents' death." Lily said. The three girls were hanging out together in Stefanie's bedroom.

"They're coming for the funeral tomorrow??" Arabella asked.

"I don't know about that. It's gonna be the last time I ever see my parents and Petunia." Lily remarked.

"We're going with you tomorrow." Stefanie said, partially trying to see what Lily was thinking about.

"Thanks guys. I really appreciate that. But believe me when I say I'm fine." Lily smiled at both girls gratefully. "I know you two have been entering my thoughts. I'm really glad that I've friends like you."

"Friends forever!!" Stefanie exclaimed.

"Till death do us part!!" Arabella added.

33333333333333333333

"You, the cause of their death, still dare to come back." Petunia said angrily.

"They're my parents too and I'm just paying my respect to them. Please mind your own business." Lily remarked coolly.

"Get out of here now."

"Don't worry. I won't stay long if I want. I'll leave when the funeral is over." Lily said calmly, totally ignoring the hysterical Petunia.

"Don't pollute us with your freakiness." With that, Petunia left Lily, Arabella and Stefanie standing with the rest of the family and friends of Daryl and Dawn Evans.

"You alright??" Stefanie whispered to Lily.

"Don't worry. I'm as fine as before." Lily whispered back and gave Stefanie an assuring smile before returning to the Pastor speech.

33333333333333333333

"I wonder how's Lily coping with everything." James said. It had been a week since Lily's parents' funeral and Lily had been behaving absolutely normal.

"She seems fine actually." Sirius remarked. "Lily is taking it well."

"I believe she's alright. We're her friends for four years, don't you know her better than this??" Remus commented. "I believe Lily when she say she is fine. She is a strong girl."

"Anyway why are you so concern?? Jamesie boy??" Sirius teased.

"Everyone is concerned. Dumbledore and Pomfrey are coming down to check on Lily to see how she is doing." James said as a matter-of-fact.

"Whatever you say. We can't force you to admit anything. Can we, Sirius??" Remus winked at Sirius. They jumped onto James and pinned him down.

"What are you trying to do??" James struggled to get free.

"Do you like Lily or not??" Remus asked the struggling James.

33333333333333333333

"I'll train harder to fight Voldemort." Lily said boldly.

"Lily, do you understand how strong Voldemort is??" Dumbledore said. He was speaking with Lily privately at a corner while the rest of the five were practicing their powers. They had resumed practicing three times a week during the break, training harder and longer than before.

"I understand. He is getting stronger with his team of deatheaters. I know right now we're just six fifteen years old. We've nothing to fight against him. But someday we're going to defeat him. Good prevail evil."

"Don't strain yourself. Your health is equally important."

"Yes, sir. I know what I'm doing."

33333333333333333333

"Are we ready for the next full moon??" James asked Sirius and Remus. The three boys were hanging out at James' bedroom.

"Peter is practicing on his own at home too. We can have one final practice when school starts." Sirius said.

"Too bad we can't use those animal powder. Ten hours is too long during school days. We can't use it now either. Someone is bound to notice that we go missing overnight." James pointed out.

"Remus, we can accompany you when school starts. Our whole plan is proceeding really well." Sirius said.

"Thanks guys. I really appreciate all that you had done." Remus said gratefully.

"That's what friends are for." James said and gave a slap on Remus' back.

33333333333333333333

_Dearest Lils.._

_          Sorry to hear about your parents' death. My parents were not able to attend the funeral due to their busy schedule._

_We really miss you lots. Our school term is starting soon and everything is going to be so different. How I wish that we were not half the globe away from you._

_Jen, Shan and Von send their regards over as well. It had only been two months since we returned and the time is so difficult to pass without all of you around._

_By the way, F-Four seems to be keeping in really close contact with the Marauders. I had seen James, Sirius' and Remus' owls coming here now and then._

_Hope to hear from you soon._

_With lots of hugs and kisses, chocolates and ice-creams,_

_Yvette_

"Times really flies. We're going to be fifth year in just a month time." Lily commented as she folded the letter, putting it aside so she could reply it the next day.

"We better get some rest. We're going to practice Quidditch tomorrow." Stefanie remarked. The three girls climbed into the humongous bed quickly.

"Good night."

33333333333333333333

"Hey Marauders, we're having much more fun in school then ever. It was really good to know you guys, giving us so much prank ideas that we never thought of before. But anyway the last thing we did was to make the school filled with harmless monkeys. It was rather advance transfiguration but it had driven the teachers crazy. And the headmaster had given us a day off from school to clear the campus and hence we have free time to write to you. From F-Four." James folded the parchment after reading. Shannon's owl had just dropped an owl post for the Marauders again at the Potters' manor.

"From the language, I think it was written by Shannon." Remus commented.

"I think so too. His English is a little strange." Sirius said.

"They're Chinese, and this is their second language. I don't blame them." James pointed out.

"Anyway it's about time for school soon. Any brilliant prank??" Sirius asked.

"Actually I've an idea." James grinned cheekily.

33333333333333333333

"Do you remember how we got to know each other??" James asked Lily. The six of them had gathered in James' humongous room. There was more stuff inside now, with a newer and bigger television, the newest set of Playstation. Sirius and Arabella were playing with the Playstation game Time Crisis 2, trying to beat each other at the game. Stefanie and Remus were behind cheering them on.

"Erm.. I know Bell first outside Leaky Cauldron, then met Stef when we enter Diagon Alley. How did I know Sir and Rem??" Lily said and tried to remember the details. "I think we probably met on the train. I remember seeing Rem and Sir at the last compartment. You're probably there as well."

"Yup. That's right." James said excitedly. _How could Lily forget me of all people??_ "Remember the first prank we played on you girls??"

"You turned us red on the first day of school and earned your first detention in Hogwarts." Lily said without hesitation. "Do I have any memories with you only?? It's like most of them consist of Sir and Rem and I think I can remember those rather distinctly."

"Do you remember your date to the Halloween Ball??" James asked.

"Hmm.. So I supposed it's you. That portion of the date for Halloween Ball is empty. I remembered dancing with Shannon and a couple of guys. F-Four did a dance and you guys drugged the fruit punch and caused everyone fart at midnight." Lily said, laughing at the thought.

"You really can't remember anything about me??" James said sadly.

"I don't. But don't be so sad. Maybe someday I might. Even if I won't, we can build more new memories." Lily said optimistically.

"I think that's probably the only way. It's just so unfair that you remembered everything except me." 

"Well, I supposed that how things works. I don't know as well. It's just so unexplainable."

"I'll keep trying to remind you of our memories. You just fill up the blanks."

"Thanks James."

"Oh, remember what we got for you for Christmas last year??"

"Yup. I love that pendant of the silver Lily. You all got me a pendant because all of you had a very special one except me. I never removed it since that day." Lily said and she pulled out the silver necklace on from her tee shirt.

"Looks like we really never have any special memories together. It's always the six of us."

"Lily!! James!! Come and join us. We're starting a _men_-versus-_girls_ fight in this game!!" Sirius shouted at the two of them.

"Hey!! Why did you call yourselves _men_ and us _girls_??" Arabella said and kicked him on his left shin.

"Ouch!!" Sirius whined. "Look how girlie you are. We're perfect _gentlemen_." Arabella kicked on Sirius' right shin. "Hey, how are you going to compensate the star beater of Gryffindor??"

"Excuse me. I think I'm the star beater." Remus joked.

"Not for long. Just wait till my shin recover." Sirius continued whining.

"Look who is the sissy around here?? Whining like a _girl_!!" Arabella said and attempted to kick Sirius' shin again but he jumped backwards this time.

"I'm not stupid enough to let you cripple me." Sirius said in a pretended manly voice.

"Okok, you two can stop arguing. Let's start with the game." Lily laughed and went to join in the fun.

_Why do I feel so sad when Lily don't remember me?? Why am I trying so hard to make her remember me?? I don't have a crush on her, do I??_

"Jamesie boy!!" Sirius called out at a dazed James.

"Hey, the game can't start without you." Remus walked over and dragged James off his couch before he could respond.

"What??" James asked.

"Let's start on the _men_-versus-_girls_ game." Sirius explained.

"It's boys-versus-girls!!" Arabella remarked.

"Whatever, c'mon, let's starts before Sir and Bell start fighting physically." Stefanie said, being the peacemaker of the two of them.

"We're not going to fight!!" Sirius and Arabella told Stefanie at the same time.

33333333333333333333

"Say 'I like Lily'. Say 'I like Lily'. Say 'I like Lily'." Sirius looked into James' eyes and pretended to be hypnotizing James in front of the group. Lily was blushing very furiously. They had just reminded her the incident whereby they met Harry Potter in the future.

"I like Lily." James said, looking a little confounded.

"Look, he finally admits that he like Lily." Sirius jumped around gleefully. Lily was keeping very quiet on her couch and stared at the floor.

"I like Lily." James repeated, still looking a little dazed.

"Say 'I _love_ Sirius'." Remus told the dazed James jokingly.

"I _love _Sirius." James repeated after Remus.

"You can cut the act of being hypnotized." Sirius said jokingly.

"I _love_ Sirius." James repeated.

"That's a horrible thing to say. Please do not let anyone know that or they think that the most gorgeous and eligible bachelor of the century is a gay." Sirius pretended to be serious.

"I _love_ Sirius."

"JAMES!!" Sirius exclaimed dramatically.

"Oh Merlin. Did I just hear James saying that he _love_ Sirius??" Fion said, walking into James' bedroom.

"He did say that because we pretended to hypnotize him to admit that he like Lily." Remus explained.

"I like Lily."

"You can stop pretending now!!" Sirius exclaimed. "Fion is here. And please don't ruin my reputation!!"

"I like Lily."

"He looked like he is really hypnotized." Fion studied the expression on James. "I don't believe my brother will say he like a guy so openly, perhaps not even as a joke."

"How could he?? Unless Sirius has the ability to hypnotize people." Arabella pointed out. Lily was still keeping quiet at her corner seat.

"Well, I don't know about that. For all you know he might have." Fion said.

"Let me try to hypnotize Remus."

"No way!! I don't wanna be your guinea pig!!" Remus said and closed his eyes immediately. All of them laughed at Remus' reaction except James who was still looking a little dazed.

"C'mon. We're good friends, aren't we??"

"NO!! I don't wanna say stupid things!!" Remus said and kept his eyes shut.

"Lily!!" Sirius said in an extremely smooth tone.

"NO!!" Lily closed her eyes immediately and covered her face with her palms. When Sirius turned to Arabella and Stefanie, both girls closed their eyes instantly.

"Look like no one is willing. And don't ever try on me." Fion said. "It's best if you tell Dumbledore about it tomorrow when you've your practice."

"Hey, you all are supposed to be my best friends. And you, my sister, isn't supporting my supernatural power at all!!" Sirius said pointing at each of them.

"Sorry, we just don't want to say stupid things like the way we did to James." Remus grinned cheekily at Sirius.

"Why don't you guys start getting him out of the hypnotized state??" Fion suggested. James was sitting very still at his couch looking remotely distant.

"Let me do it." Sirius offered.

"Go ahead." Fion grinned.

"JAMESIE!!" Sirius shouted and started shaking James violently.

"SIRIUS!! ARE YOU TRYING TO KILL ME??" James shouted suddenly.

"You're back!!" Fion laughed.

"What you mean by I'm back??"

"Sirius hypnotized you and I think he probably have that power to do so." Fion said, grinning at his brother.

"And you admitted that you like Lily." Arabella added.

"WHAT??" James looked absolutely horrified.

"And you also admitted that you love Sirius." Fion added jokingly. All of them laughed at the joke.

"SIRIUS!! I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!!" James said and chased after Sirius around the room, grabbing whatever he laid his hands on to throw at Sirius.

33333333333333333333

"Lily, you alright??" Stefanie asked. The three girls now lay in their bedroom in Potter's Manor. It was the last night of their summer break.

"I'm fine, really happy and thankful. What you mean by if I'm all right??" Lily replied Stefanie, looking confused and sleepy.

"Over everything. Your parents, your sister, James, practice, school, holidays. Everything generally." Arabella said.

"I'm mourning over my parents, alright. I'm sad and miss them lots. But I'm not going to let that affect me for the rest of my life. It had made me a stronger person. I'm going to live the way they wanted me to. Now I'm more persistent and determined to fight Voldemort but not in the vengeful way. Just wanna get rid of evil. I'm practicing harder than before, but I won't overwork myself." Lily explained, thinking everything that had happened over the summer holidays. "I won't be seeing my sister anymore I believe. At least I hope I won't. I'll miss my home, but not my sister. We're not close at all anyway. I kinda look forward to school, to see our dear old roommates Sam and Joe. Miss them over the holidays although we owl each other now and then. I'll always remember the great times we had together in the dorm, dressing up for one another and slumber party." Lily looked up at the ceiling, deep in thought.

"How about this summer break?? Do you have anything to say??" Stefanie asked.

"Many things had happened. I know I'm stronger than before, emotionally and mentally. My parents will live in my heart and mind forever. I know I've the best friends anyone can ask for. Now I'm living for my friends. There must be a reason to live. One of the best things that happened to me in my life is the chance for me to know all of you." Lily said thoughtfully.

"And James??" Arabella inquired.

"I don't know. I really can't seem to remember anything between us in the past. He said that we didn't have any memories that's just consist only the two of us. Anyway it's like I'm getting to know him all over again. He's a great friend."

"Do you like him??"

"Yeah, I like him as a friend as much as I like Remus and Sirius."

"You used to have a huge crush on him."

"I do??"

"Yes."

"Can you remember??"

"I can't."

"Then do you have a crush on him now??"

"Actually no. I think I rather have a crush on Remus than James. No offence Stef. I'm not going to fight over a guy with my best friend."

"I understand. But we all believe that James like you."

"No, he doesn't. We're just good friends."

"You'll know someday."

"You two are meant for each other right from the beginning."

"How did you know??"

"I can foresee the future, have you forgotten??"

"Can you say what's gonna happen next??"

"I know, I can't tell because it's just not supposed to. Life is like a book waiting to be read. If I tell you what's going to happen next, nothing will ever be a surprise anymore. I know how that felt."  
  


"Oh, Bell."

"It's ok. This is going to be my life. I can't do anything about it."

  
"Can you tell us who you would marry in the future??"

"Sirius."

"WHAT??"

"Yes, it's Sirius."

"But you two-"

"I'm trying to change my destiny because I had already foresee my future. I don't want to marry him."

"Perhaps in the future you might want to."

"Perhaps. But I want to change that fact. And if one day I really marry Sirius, Lily will end up with James."

"What about me??"

"I don't think it's right to say. Because things won't happen the way we want it to."

"We understand. Let's not talk about the future now."

"Right now all we need is sleep."

"That's right."

"Good night!!"


	49. The Most Eligible Bachelors

**Chapter 48: The Most Eligible Bachelors**

_There's only one sorting hat on earth,_

_Which obviously that is me,_

_I think I'm quite pretty,_

_Though not many people agree with me._

_I'm smart and I'm fair,_

_Placing you in the right air._

_Try to find a better hat out there,_

_For there is only one hat like me._

_I can't see what you try to hide,_

_But I can see what you think._

_I'm the Hogwarts Sorting hat,_

_The best and the greatest one._

_So don't be afraid to try me on,_

_I'll decide where you go._

_You might belong in Gryffindor,_

_Where the brave and fearless go,_

_Their intelligence and their wits,_

_Shall make great things happen._

_You might belong in Hufflepuff,_

_Where the average people go,_

_Nothing great, nothing more,_

_Just where Huffies can ever go._

_Or yet in the smart old Ravenclaw,_

_If you are clever and witty,_

_You know where you ought to be,_

_The wise old Ravenclaw you shall be._

_Or perhaps you might be stuck in Slytherin,_

_They're evil, cunning and mean,_

_Stupid and foolish dimwits are the best words,_

_To describe the people there._

_So put me on with assurance,_

_That I won't eat up your head._

_I'll leave your brains for the rest of the years,_

_Where you shall be here with the Marauders._

_Marauders are the best and smartest Gryffindors,_

_Who helped me wrote this year sorting song,_

_They're going to be the greatest wizards of all time,_

_For that's what the brilliant hat say so._

The hat bowed at each of the four tables after it finished the song and became silence. Everyone in the Great Hall burst into applause and cheered loudly. Some guys whistled while most of them were already standing up and clapping especially all the Gryffindors.

"Thank you!! Thank you for all your support!!" James and Sirius stood onto the bench and looked over at everybody else in the Great Hall. Remus and Peter remained standing on the ground humbly.

"Thank you Mr. Potter, Mr. Black, Mr. Lupin and Mr. Pettigrew for the brilliant Sorting Hat song." Dumbledore announced, attracting the attention of the students to him. "We shall now continue with the sorting ceremony so we can start on our feast soon."

"Please lower your volume." Professor McGonagall said loudly. The noise level reduced drastically as she proceeded on with the Sorting Ceremony. "When I call you name, you'll put on the hat and sit on the stool to be sorted."

"I can't believe you guys wrote the sorting song!!" Lily exclaimed, her eyes were a little teary after all the laughing.

"Well, we found that it could be a better way of introducing ourselves to the school." James said.

"It's not like the whole school haven't heard of you guys yet." Stefanie joked.

"We just want to create an impact, leave a history." Remus explained, laughing at the reason himself.

"You guys are just attention seekers." Arabella pointed out.

"We love the attention. Anyway we just want to let the female population notice us. Look how manly we had became over the summer break." Sirius said confidently.

"I can't see any difference actually. Perhaps because I've been seeing you for my _entire_ life." Stefanie remarked.

"That was a really brilliant song I must say." Lily praised.

"Does that mean that we've to come up with a new song for the hat for the next two years as well??"

"Anyway how did you guys make the sorting hat sing that??"

"We traveled to Dumbledore office via Floo network. One day when he came over to see my father. Then I had this brilliant plan in mind. By the last second week of school when he had came over to meet my father again, we flooed to his office and talked to the Sorting Hat and he had agreed."

"I can't believe you guys could do such a thing."

"Perhaps we could compose the song next year." Lily joked.

"It won't be refreshing anymore."

"True. By the way you guys should be proud of yourself now."

"Why??"

"Some _Huffies_ are walking over now."

"Hi Marauders, I'm Prue Halliwell. These are my sisters, Piper and Phobe. We just want to tell you that the sorting hat song was really brilliant." Prue Hallowell introduced herself and her two sisters. The three girls all had dark brown hair, and big hazel eyes.

"Thank you for the compliment, Prue." James said modestly.

"We actually have some sort of an unofficial Marauders fan-club in Hufflepuff and we're sort of like the leaders of this little club." Piper said.

"Wow, that sounds cool. We didn't know about that." Sirius exclaimed.

"It started somewhere last year. At least half the Hufflepuff girls are in it with some from Ravenclaw and Slytherins." Phoebe explained.

"Thanks for the thought. But I think it's too exaggerated." Remus said humbly.

"We actually had fun from the fan-club. Especially since you're all brilliant quidditch players." Prue said. "Peter, no offence on that." Peter nodded his head but kept quiet.

"Well, if you're happy with it then go ahead. We've no objection." James said to the three sisters.

"Thank you. Perhaps we can go Hogsmeade together for a chat or something soon." Phoebe said excitedly.

"Yeah, perhaps." James said and the three girls returned to their table happily.

"Are they in the right mind or what?? Set up a fan-club for the Marauders?!?" Arabella said in disgust.

"You're just jealous." Sirius taunted Arabella and continued eating happily.

"I'm not!!"

"You're!!"

"Not!!"

"Yes!!"

"No!!"

"Cut that out." Lily laughed at her constantly bickering friends. _I can't believe that someday both of them will walk down the aisle happily._

_I agree that with you._

_Stef??_

_Yup._

_Great minds think alike huh._

_Foolish minds seldom differ._

_Bell?!?_

_Why are all of you always gathering at my thoughts??_

_Because you can't read ours._

_Oh well._

"Hey, why are you girls so quiet suddenly??" James asked.

"Nothing." Lily said quickly.

"Are you ok??" James asked in a concerned manner.

"Yup. I'm fine." The five friends exchanged a knowing look with one another.

"I'm hungry." Sirius said suddenly.

"Do we have to go through this every single year??" Arabella said in an annoyed tone.

"I'm really hungry."

"Not like we're not like that."

"Fine, I shall keep quiet this year." Sirius told Arabella. "Feed me some food in case I faint by the time they are served."

"Don't worry, I'll stuff your mouth later if you ever faint."

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"Our head boy and head girl for this year is Andrew Spinnet from Gryffindor and Michelle Brocklehurst from Ravenclaw. Seventh year prefect from each house, please inform the new fifth-year prefects and brief them about their duties and responsibilities." Professor McGonagall briefed the prefects after Dumbledore finished his announcement and the student population was about to leave the Great Hall.

"Hey James and Lily, wait a moment." A seventh-year prefect called them, as they were about to leave the Great Hall with their friends.

"Huh?? What's up??" Lily asked the prefect.

"Both of you are our new fifth year prefects." The seventh-year explained. "I'm aware that McGonagall did not send the letter to both of you because of some personal reasons. So I'm here to inform you guys about it."

"Er.. Ok. I'm surprised." Lily said in amazement. "I never thought I could be a prefect."

"I don't know. But McGonagall picked both of you. Anyway I'm Loucelle Brown, in case you don't know." Loucelle said. She was a pretty girl with long wavy brown hair with golden highlights.

"Don't worry, I know the names of all pretty girls." James complimented.

"Anyway, generally you know the normal prefect duties. For fifth-year, it's more like a trainee. Shouldn't be much of a problem actually. Just don't create trouble, especially James." Loucelle said and smiled teasingly at James.

"We don't create trouble. We just bring joy to others." James said wittily.

"Whatever you call it. So basically we've meetings, prepare school events and stuffs. I believe you know the stuffs that we do. And keep control in the common room etcetera." Loucelle explained as the three of them walked up towards Gryffindor tower behind the entire Gryffindor students, both new and old.

"Yup. We're aware of the general stuffs." James said.

"I think that's about all. I'll inform you guys about the meetings and stuffs soon. Password is Wingardium Leviosa." Loucelle said and bid the two good night and ran to the front of the Gryffindors and gave a short briefing to the first-years.

"I can't believe I'm made prefect." Lily said to James in amazement.

"Well, I'm not surprised. I know I'll become a prefect someday." James said confidently.

"Why??"

"Sirius is too I-don't-know-how-to-say to be a prefect. Remus, is well, you know, he can't be present all the time. Peter is too quiet and everything. There's only four guys in our year." James pointed out.

"True. But I thought Samantha ought to be a prefect. She's smart and everything." Lily said sincerely.

"I think partially it gotta do with the rapport between the prefects. And especially since we're _different_, it's easier to be out if we're prefects."

"What you mean by different??"

"We're the saviors of the world."

"We haven't even save the world!!"

"We're going to."

"Whatever."

"Wingardium Leviosa."

"I can't believe Andrew use that as a password."

"I think it was meant to be a joke. He's pretty fun-loving as we all know."

"Definitely."

"Good night."

"See you tomorrow." Lily and James went up the separate dormitory.

"Why did Loucelle call you two for??"

"We're made prefects."

"Wow."

"Congrats!!"

"Why are you the prefect and not anyone else??" Samantha asked.

"I don't know. James said our rapport was good. I really thought you would be the prefect and not me."

"Don't worry about it. I'm just kidding." Samantha said smiling. "I'm not such a person to be jealous of my friend for being a prefect."

"Thanks Sam."

"Anyway faster go bathe and we can have a short catch up tonight."

"Okie dokes."

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"I can't believe those three." Arabella said exasperatedly during breakfast a week after school started.

"How did they offend you besides those took away the attention Sirius used to shower on you??" Lily said reasonably.

"I thought that's what you wanted for the last four years??" Stefanie teased.

"It's like they're spending so much time with each other so suddenly." Arabella said, eyeing the three sisters who were talking with the Marauders animatedly.

"Are you jealous of them or something??" Lily asked.

"I'm not. It's just that our friendship seems to be drifting apart."

"Did you foresee this to happen??"

"Yes."

"What's next??"

"We won't be that great buds anymore. That's why I'm pissed off."

"Well, they need time with other girls just like we need time with other guys."

"But still, aren't we supposed to be good friends??"

"We'll still see them at the practice tonight and during our quidditch practice, so why are you so worried??"

"I'm not worried. Never mind about it then."

"Let's finish our breakfast so we can head to Charms earlier."

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"Do you think the three sisters seems to be hanging out with us unusually often lately??" James asked the other three Marauders one night.

"Yes. Anyway they're pretty, with good figures and everything." Sirius said dreamily.

"We seem to be drifting apart from the girls. It's like we barely had a proper meal with them lately. And our pranks hasn't involve them at all." Remus said.

"I think we should have our own friends." Peter spoke up. _Master was brilliant to tell me to make the three Huffies to disrupt the friendship between the six. I don't even need any spells or whatsoever to make the three girls glue themselves to us._

"You've got a point there, but afterall our four years of friendship with them shouldn't end just like that." James remarked.

"Probably it's time we should start dating other girls. There're better girls out there besides the three of them." Sirius said. He was particularly attracted to Phoebe.

"Perhaps. At least we still have our quidditch training and night practice together. Maybe we can spend time together during that time??" James suggested.

"But we're usually too tired after that. Mealtimes are definitely off. Did you see the number of girls we had been having our meals with lately??" Remus pointed out.

"The girls seem ok with that except Bell who appeared to be rather annoyed with us." Sirius remarked.

"I don't blame them. We're not being good friends here." Remus said.

"Well, let's talk about this another time. Full moon is two weeks away, shall we go to the shack this Saturday for our final practice??" James asked the group.

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"Hi guys." Prue said and settled herself between Remus and Peter at the Gryffindor table.

"Hi." The Marauders said simultaneously.

"Looks like girls had been flocking to you guys." Piper remarked.

"Yeah, it was rather annoying at times." Sirius said honestly.

"In what sense??" Phobe asked, raising her brows.

"We barely have time for our good friends lately." James said and he looked over at Lily, Arabella and Stefanie who were eating together with Samantha and Joey not too far away from them. Lily looked up and locked eyes with James for a moment and she smiled warmly at him before continuing her conversation and dinner.

"Aren't we your friends as well??" Piper asked, pouting at James.

"Yeah, we're. But some friends are just more special than the others." James said absentmindedly and continued eating his dinner.

"Ignore them, they're always like that." Sirius told the three girls. James and Remus talked much lesser during dinner while Sirius and Peter were deep in conversation with the three sisters.

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"You guys are the most eligible bachelors in Hogwarts." A third-year Slytherin said. Four Slytherin girls had come to join the four guys for dinner. The Marauders had been having their meals with different girls all the time.

"Thanks." James said and continued eating his food, trying to get some peace.

"We would like to have our dinner just between the four of us today. Would you ladies mind leaving us now??" Remus said in as politely as possible.

"Don't you enjoy our company??" Another girl asked and pouted.

"We do, but we need to have some men's talk." Sirius said smoothly.

"Alright then, we find you guys tomorrow." The third girl said and the group turned back to the Slytherin table.

"This is getting rather scary." James said after the girls were far from earshot.

"Maybe we should start eating in the kitchens from soon." Remus said.

"You know where the kitchens are??" A fourth-year Ravenclaw asked from behind.

"No, we don't. We were just joking around." James said, lying without blinking an eye.

"Oh I see. Mind if we join you for dinner??" Another girl said.

"We would like some time for our men's talk today. Another time perhaps." Remus said.

"Alright then, we come and join you guys tomorrow." The first girl said and the three girls walked towards their house table.

"At first I thought it was rather cool. After two months of this torture. I think I rather die!!" Sirius exclaimed in a soft voice.

"I thought you're enjoying yourself."

"I was."

"You only think like that after two months. Remus and I almost gone nuts after two weeks."

"So what can we do now??"

"Kitchens." James whispered making sure no one could hear him.


	50. Being Prefects

**Chapter 49: Being Prefects**

"Now we've one more burden than the rest." Lily complained as she and James walked towards the prefects meeting room on a Saturday evening.

"Well, I don't know about you. But one of my expectations is to be a prefect." James said nonchalantly.

"What expectations??"

"My father's expectations."

"So you're fulfilling them??"

"I need to."

"Oh."

"Here we're. Responsibilities and Duties." James said and the portrait swung open, revealing a rather nice and comfortable room, which looked rather similar to the house common room.

"Lily, James, finally you guys are here." Andrew smiled at his juniors.

"Are we late or something?? Loucelle told us seven o'clock." Lily asked and checked her watch.

"No, you guys aren't late. Just a comment because no one else is here yet. I'm kinda bored being so early but I don't have a choice." Andrew said in a rather bored tone.

"Well, if James be the Head Boy, he probably would appear fashionably late." Lily joked.

"We must be good examples for fellow students." Andrew pointed out but still gave James his boyish grin.

The prefect's room started filling up with the fifth, sixth and seventh-years prefects from the different houses.

"So Potty and the Mudblood became prefects, huh??" Narcissa said from behind.

"So it was Snape and Clarkee, I thought what dog was barking behind us." James told Lily loudly.

"James, Lily, Severus and Narcissa, please take a seat." Michelle called out. The four fifth-years quickly went to their respective seat and kept quiet but continued glaring at one another throughout the whole meeting.

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"There's going to be a Christmas Ball!!" Lily announced the moment she entered the fifth-year female dormitory.

"What!!" Arabella exclaimed and jumped out from her bed.

  
"A Christmas Ball, that's so cool!!" Stefanie said as she popped out from her bed.

"We can dress up together again!!" Samantha exclaimed happily.

"Tell us all about it." Joey asked Lily excitedly.

"It would be announced somewhere this few days. The Christmas Ball will be held somewhere between twentieth to twenty-third of December. Only fifth-years to seventh-years will be allowed this time." Lily said in brief.

"Sounds cool." Stefanie said excitedly.

"Theme is Glittering Stars. Prefects are doing the preparations." Lily explained. "Gryffindor prefects are in charge of the music."

"Hope Slytherins are not in charge of the food." Arabella remarked. "They might poison us."

"Ravenclaw prefects are in charge of the food and Slytherin prefects are helping out in the deco."

"At least the most they can only make the Christmas tree collapse." The five girls started laughing and then continued their girl talk.

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"We need to come up with a list of songs. Loucelle, Penelope and I will be something like the deejays. We might need help from both of you as well. So do make yourself available when we need you. Otherwise both of you can enjoy while you can." Daniel Thomas, the sixth-year prefect, was telling James and Lily. The six Gryffindor prefects were having a little meeting for the upcoming Christmas Ball preparations.

"I've to start the dance with all prefects, some sort of tradition." Andrew was telling the group. "We've to choose a song that we all like."

"There must be a balance number of fast songs and slow songs. More slow songs would be preferred." Loucelle suggested.

"I agree. We should have more slow songs that fast paced ones. We can just use the pop songs or something." Penelope Patil commented.

"How about let our first song be Can't Help Falling In Love With You?? The Elvis Presley song. Rather popular and slow enough." Loucelle suggested.

"Hey Lily, James, you two are being unusually quiet." Andrew said suddenly.

"So what do you think of the starting song??" Penelope asked.

"I think it's nice. But I can't imagine dancing it with James."

"Neither can I imagine dancing that song with you."

"It's only a dance."

"Sounds scary. All eyes will be on us." Lily commented.

"On us only more likely since we'll be right in front. I'll be dancing with Loucelle and Michelle will be with Terrence Boot." Andrew remarked.

"Anyway back to the song list." Daniel said.

"So what are the slow songs??" Penelope asked the five. Very soon, they started listing out the songs they wanted in order of appearance. Their first song was confirmed and their list of two hundred songs was out after three hours of informal discussion.

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"There is someone around the Whomping Willow." Lily thought she saw some shadowy movements along the killer tree, went towards the window to take a closer look. "It's Snape!!"

"What are you talking about??" James asked her and went towards the window to take a closer look.

"Oh my god!! It's full moon tonight!!" Lily whispered worriedly.

"You go and inform Dumbledore and I go down and get Snape off the tree." James instructed and he dashed down the staircases towards the Whomping Willow. Lily, on the other hand, ran quickly towards Dumbledore's office.

_What on earth is Snape doing there?? And how did he know about it?? Did he saw Remus?? _James thought as he ran faster and faster towards the tree. _Snape is my enemy, I shouldn't be helping him. But he's innocent, and from another point of view, he's a fellow schoolmate. Yes, I must save him._

James ran towards the Whomping Willow and looked around the deserted area. _Shucks, he must have gone into the tunnel._ He quickly grabbed an old tree branch, which Madam Pomfrey had always been using, and tried to poke at the point which make the tree freeze and at the same time escape from the swinging branches. _Peter better be able to do this when he's a rat._

_It's nearing night, this is getting bad. _James thought as he dashed towards the Shrieking Shack direction. _Where is he?? Where is he??_

Suddenly there was a loud werewolf howl from afar. James finally saw Snape who was walking closer and closer towards the Shrieking Shack.

"SNAPE!! STOP!! DON'T GO ANY FURTHER!!" James shouted.

"I'm going expose your little secret to the Headmaster." Severus smirked with his little triumphant smile.

"This is not a secret. THIS IS DANGER!! LEAVE NOW!!" James shouted and grabbed hold of Severus to prevent him from moving forward, as the howling sounds get more distinct.

"Why should I listen to you?? Potty boy??" Serverus taunted and struggled to make James release. James, being much stronger, held Severus tightly and tried to make the way back to the Whomping Willow. "Get off me!!"

"I'll only release when we're out there safely." James said, struggling to hold onto Severus tightly and walked back.

"So what are you all hiding?? I'm going to expose all of you and make sure you, the Minister's son, get expelled from Hogwarts for good." Severus screamed, and punched James on his stomach and face.

"STOP PUNCHING ME!! If you go further ahead, you'll make the biggest regret of your life. AND STOP STRUGGLING!!" James shouted at Severus' ear as he tried to shove him up the tunnel.

"I'm not going to leave till I find out what's going on!!" Severus struggled and James lost his grip. Severus ran towards the end of the tunnel with James chasing behind. Suddenly with a loud howl, a full-grown werewolf appeared at the end of the tunnel. Severus fainted on the spot instantly.

James transformed into his animagus form and galloped towards Remus the werewolf and pinned him down on the ground. James looked into Remus' eye and some form of understanding came between them and they stopped struggling. James had gotten some scratches on him from Remus claws. Just then Sirius, in his animagus form came over, James and Sirius looked at each other, then slowly James released Remus but not letting him go any closer to Severus. Sirius shoved Remus back to the Shrieking Shack leaving James alone. After making sure Remus was a safe distance away, he transformed back to himself. Giving one look to himself to make sure he did not splinched himself or something, he levitated Severus and left the tunnel quickly.

"James, how are you??" Lily came running towards the frozen Whomping Willow with Dumbledore.

"I'm fine, just some scratches. Snape isn't fine though." James said, looking at the still Severus who was lying on the floor motionlessly.

"Let's take him to the Hospital Wing." Dumbledore said and conjured a stretcher for Severus. "That was very brave of you to save your enemy from danger. What happened in the tunnel??"

"I chased after Snape and we struggled. Remus sensed us and was about to come towards our direction when a dog stopped him in time. Snape fainted on the sight of the werewolf and I brought him up." James said, missing out some facts deliberately.

"You've done what a heroic wizard would do." Dumbledore said and winked at James. _Looks like they're not going to admit that they're illegal Animagi. I don't blame them either._ "Now Severus owe you a Wizard Debt in which he has to repay you somehow someday in this life."

"As long as he don't let out the news about Remus, I don't want him to repay me at all." James said, looking at the stiffed Severus.

"It's a bond created when you save him. Saving someone would create a bond between the two. Remus and Stefanie share a special bond between the two that no one can break. I don't know how is Stefanie ever going to repay Remus." Lily remarked.

"That's right, Lily. It's some sort of bond. For us in the wizarding community, it's known as Wizard Debt. It's nearly impossible to repay in certain sense, especially when it involved saving one's life." Dumbledore said.

"Argh!! I don't want him to repay me." James said in disgust. "Who know how he would try to repay?? Being my friend?? Eeewww." Lily laughed at James' reaction whole Dumbledore gave a small chuckle.

"You might as well say that it's your duty since you're a prefect??" Lily suggested.

"Yeah, it's my duty. No repayment needed or wanted." James said.

"In time, you'll see how he's going to repay you." Dumbledore said wisely.

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"I'm so beat!!" Lily whined as she sat on the armchair the moment she entered the Gryffindor common room.

"Yeah." James agreed. Both of them had been patrolling along the corridors with the sixth-year prefects for the last three hours.

"Being prefect is such a tiring job."

"We can only return when most of the population is sleeping so soundly." They had started patrolling from ten onwards, after their practice with Dumbledore.

"Who would be out there at this time of the night anyway??" Lily commented.

"The Marauders of course." James said.

"It's people like you who's giving us so much trouble."

"So am I considered to be in the 'you' category or the 'us' category??"

"Both."

"How to??"

"I'm too tired to argue with you."

"The Lily I know will argue till her last breathe."

"What do you mean by that??"

"It means that you still don't remember me."

"What's the diff?? You're in my current memories and that's what matters."

"You've got a point."

"Of course I've a point."

"Ah.. That's the Lily I know."

"Yeah." With that, both of them dozed off in the Gryffindor common room on the comfy armchairs.

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"Hey Lily, wakie wakie!!" Arabella shook the sleeping Lily.

"I think you better wake Lily up because I need to perform the ultimate stunt to wake James up." Sirius said.

"Lily, you're going to be late!!" Stefanie pulled Lily up.

"Huh?? What??" A confused and sleepy Lily asked.

"You're late for lessons. Better go and get changed." Stefanie said.

"I'm late?? Ok, wait for me." Lily ran up to her dormitory to change.

"Watch this." Sirius said as he levitated James about half a meter of the couch and then released him for a straight drop.

"OUCH!!" James groaned and he got up from his sleep.

"This always works well." Remus laughed at the sleepy James.

"Tell us what did you and Lily do last night??" Arabella questioned James.

"Did what?? Prefect duties of course." James answered as a matter-of-fact.

"For the whole night??" Sirius teased.

"Of course not. We were too tired and just fell asleep here." James said. "You guys are being ridiculous again. I'm going up to change." James left the five of them at the common room laughing.

"What's so funny??" Lily came down in great hurry from the female dormitory.

"James was being funny." Stefanie said.

"What did he do??"

"What did you two do last night??" Sirius questioned Lily.

"Did what?? Prefect duties of course." Lily answered as a matter-of-fact.

"They sure have rapport. They've identical replies." Remus teased.

"Hello?? That's what we did last night. Then we were too tired and just sleep on the armchair."

"Whatever you say." Sirius grinned. The five friends seemed to share a similar grin and Lily eyed each of them suspiciously.

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"If not for Dumbledore, I would have told the world your little secret." Severus hissed at the Marauders as he walked passed them on purpose in the Great Hall.

"He won't tell." James assured Remus. "Dumbledore made him keep quiet."

"I certainly hope so." Remus said quietly. Peter gave him an assuring pat on his back.

"Don't worry. You've us no matter what happen. Once a Marauder, always a Marauder." Sirius said.

"Thanks Si." Remus said and started heaping food onto his plate.

"Don't worry about it, Rem. We're here for you." James assured and started eating the mountain of food on his plate.

"Hey guys." A female voice called out.

"Oh no."

"Uh oh."

"Hi girls." Sirius said in a false friendly voice.

"Mind if we join you guys for dinner."

"Actually we do, we've something important to discuss."

"Aren't we important enough to know??"

"You are not important enough to know anything."

"Oh, fine. Who did you think you're anyway??" The two Slytherin third-years stomped off.

"Let's eat faster." James said and the four started eating their dinner in a much faster pace.


	51. Christmas Ball

**Chapter 50: Christmas Ball**

"Who are we going to the Ball with??" James asked the three Marauders. They were hiding out at their dormitory because ever since the news of the ball was announced, girls had been flocking to them and asked them to be their dates.

"Girls??" Sirius answered cheekily.

"Who do you want to ask _specifically_??" James asked Sirius cheekily.

"I think I might want to ask either Phoebe or perhaps Mabel or Samantha or Gracie or-" Sirius went on and on about the list of pretty girls he had in mind from all the houses.

"Why don't you just ask one of them then??" Remus remarked.

"It would be unfair to the rest of the girls." Sirius replied as if the answer was the most obvious thing on earth.

"Excuse me??" James said in amusement.

"Enough about my love life. What about yours, Jamsie-boy??" Sirius teased.

"Since when did our dear old Sirius ever has a love life??" James asked Remus and Peter. The three guys started laughing at Sirius at his big ego.

"Then who are you going to ask??" Remus asked James, eyeing his response to the question.

"I don't know. Haven't thought of any yet."

"Why don't you ask Lily??"

"Why don't you ask Stefanie??"

"I already asked Stefanie."

"You did?!? When did you ask my sister?? How come I didn't know??" Sirius exclaimed.

"I asked her about a week ago and she agreed." Remus said blissfully.

"Then what about us??" James said.

"I asked you guys to ask Lily and Arabella, then you guys didn't give me an answer. So I asked Stefanie first." Remus said truthfully. A week ago, while the three guys were in the dormitory, hiding from the female population, Remus had suggested to them asking the girls. But James and Sirius were too engrossed in their game of Wizard Chess to hear him. So Remus and Peter went to get their own dates respectively.

"What about you??" James asked Peter.

"I asked Suzanne Bones from Hufflepuff." Peter replied.

"Oh, that's just so great. Let's go and ask the girls." James said and left the dormitory. Sirius followed James out. Leaving Remus and Peter laughing in their dormitory.

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"Tonight weather looks good, anyone keen on a fly??" Lily looked out of the window and asked the four girls from her dormitory. Arabella and Joey were doing an exfoliating facial mask while Stefanie and Samantha was painting their nails for each other. She had completed her mask and finished painting her nails.

"Being beautiful takes time." Samantha looked up from painting Arabella's fingernails.

"We already spent three hours beautifying ourselves. The smell of nail polish is making me sick." Lily remarked.

"It's impossible to magic the smell away now." Joey said in a muffled voice.

"It's kinda dark to be flying outside now." Stefanie commented.

"I just go for a spin on this Thunderbolt. Be back soon." Lily said and left the dormitory from the window on James' Thunderbolt.

_I really need some inner peace. So many things are happening at the same time. I wonder what's lie ahead and Bell isn't going to say anything. It's so nice to be flying in the night sky. So nice and cooling. _Lily emptied her thoughts and flew around the quidditch pitch and high above the Forbidden Forest and around the castle turrets.

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"WHAT??" Sirius exclaimed.

"What do you mean by what??" Arabella said, annoyed.

"How could you go with that Frank Longbottom??"

"Excuse me!! But why can't I go with him??"

"Then whom am I supposed to go to the Ball with??"

"That's your problem." Sirius stomped out of the girls' dormitory feeling rather pissed off with Arabella.

"Where's Lily??" James asked after Sirius left.

"She's flying outside." Stefanie said.

"She said she'll be back soon but it had been more than half an hour since she left." Arabella pointed out.

"Ok, I go out and find her. Thanks girls." James left the dormitory and the rest resumed on what they were doing except Arabella who decided to go for a cool shower to calm down.

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"So you're dateless for the Ball too??" Lily asked.

"Yeah, Narcissa is going with Lucius after the starting dance." Severus replied. Lily and Severus were now flying leisurely around the castle together, chatting away. "How about you??"

"I don't know. Maybe I can hang out with Bell or Stef or the guys. Then I can dance with all those dateless guys out there too." Lily joked.

"Do you want to go to the Ball with me??" Severus asked.

"Thanks Severus, but I don't think that's a good idea." Lily said.

"Why??"

"Partially because of the feuds between our house and your group of friends are practically enemies with mine. Malfoy wouldn't be pleased if you date a muggle-born."

"Malfoy won't do anything to you. So it's because of the Marauders??"

"Partially I supposed. I don't know. But I think I might be happier if I go alone. Maybe we can have a couple of dances together."

"Alright then. I won't force you. Don't forget your dance promise." Severus smiled warmly at Lily.

"Thanks Severus. I really don't know why the guys are all against the four of you. Perhaps it's just Malfoy and Crabbe and Goyle. Or perhaps its just Slytherins."

"I'm not that good I supposed. Too cunning."

"Well, perhaps that's the case. I believe deep down, everyone is good." Lily smiled at Severus kindly.

"Hey Lily, I've been looking all over the school for you." A voice called out from the back.

"Oh, it's Potter. I better go off first. See you around." Severus told Lily. _I don't want to face Potter and deal with the stupid Wizard Debt!!_

"Alright then, see ya around. Bye Severus." Lily told Severus. James and Severus exchanged a look and Severus left without a word.

"What are you doing with a Slytherin??" James asked Lily after making sure that Severus was out of earshot.

"I was flying alone around the castle and he saw me from his dormitory. So he came out and join me then we just chat and fly around." Lily replied.

"If next time you want to fly around, you can call me if no one wants to accompany you." James offered.

"Thanks, you said it yourself." Lily grinned.

"No problem."

"Anyway what's up??"

"I was wondering if you wanna go with me to the Christmas Ball."

"I just turned down Severus."

"He asked you??"

"Yeah, he said Narcissa is going with Malfoy."

"Did you agree??"

"Nope. I felt like going alone."

  
"Why??"

"I don't know."

"I'm also going alone. Sirius is probably asking someone now since Arabella is going with Frank."

"We can hang out together."

"Anyway we've to start the dance."

"That's the scary thing."

"What so scary??"

"I'm such a lousy dancer and we've to start that dance."

"Don't worry about it. You can do it. Didn't you dance well last year??"

"I supposed it's ok then."

"It's getting late, let's go back."

"Okie."

"Anyway any progress in remembering the old me??"

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"This is so scary." Lily muttered as she stood at the center of the dance floor with all the prefects with the Head Boy and Head Girl on the small stage. The Christmas Feast had just ended and Dumbledore had announced the beginning of the Christmas Ball. The four tables had magicked to the sides of the Hall, which were now filled with finger food and beverages.

A slow song of Can't Help Falling In Love started playing and the prefects and Head Boy and Girl swayed along with the music.

"Don't worry. Just dance like no one is watching and you'll be fine." James said confidently.

"Ok, I try. What if I trip or something??" Lily said, looking on the floor to make sure.

"You won't. Don't be so worried." James laughed at her unnecessary worries.

"I've never done this before. Not like you, doing it all the time at your parents' parties." Lily remarked sarcastically.

"As long as you get used to it, it'll be fine."

"Thanks a lot. This is like my first time dancing like that."

"Don't worry, you're dancing with James the Great One. You won't trip."

"Ok, I won't trip. But you're definitely not the Great One." Lily laughed at James' little joke and relaxed a little.

"Your hand is wet. Yucks."

"I'm scared that's why it's wet. If you don't like you can don't hold my hand."

"Ok, then I hold you waist." James grinned cheekily.

"No, no, no." Lily released James' hand and wiped on her dress and held his hand again.

"This feel much better."

"Whatever you say."

"I say you looks pretty tonight." James complimented. Lily was wearing a simple light purple colored tube dress with white strappy sandals.

"Thanks. Anyway I don't think this dress is that nice also. Can't really afford something too expensive now that I've to depend on whatever I've left in Gringotts." Lily commented.

"You look great in everything."

"Haha. Very funny. I feel fat in tube dresses."

"No, you're not fat."

"Whatever. When is this song going to end??"

"Should be rather soon. Don't you enjoy dancing with James the Great One??"

"I don't enjoy dancing when most of the population are watching. They're joining in only after this song."

"Ok, it's ending."

"I realized that as well."

The song ended with applause from the rest of the students. The prefects dispersed to join their respective partners at the sidelines. A next song Eternal Love was aired and gradually, people started to fill up the dance floor.

"Can I continue my dance with you??" James asked Lily jokingly.

"Sure, why not??" James led Lily towards the middle of the dance floor and continued dancing.

"Look at Remus and Stefanie. They look cute together." James remarked as they looked at the dancing couple that were about a meter away from them.

"Yup. They're so meant for each other." Lily agreed. Remus and Stefanie had both wore similar colour shades for this Ball. Remus wore a white shirt with grey pants and white leather shoes while Stefanie wore a halter-neck-cum-backless ankle length white shimmering dress with white-strapped heels. Both of them looked outstanding together since majority of the student population had wore dark and cool colours.

"Are they together or something??" James asked quizzically.

"I don't know. I don't think Remus had asked Stef about it. Anyway what matters most that they are happy the way they're." Lily commented.

"True. Where's Sirius??" James asked, looking around for someone with red and green highlights on his dark brown hair. Sirius had streaked his hair magically into Christmas colours for the occasion. He wore a black shirt with black pants and a red-and-green stripped tie to match his hair.

"I can't see him. He sure looked comical today." Lily laughed as she remembered how everyone in the Gryffindor common room looked as Sirius walked into the Great Hall.

"He's probably flirting with the list of pretty girls he has in mind." James said and stopped looking for Sirius. Suddenly something caught her attention.

"Erm.. Look over there." Lily said and started giggling at the sight.

"Where??" James turned to look at where Lily was looking and practically burst into giggles the moment he saw it. A long light-brown haired girl had red-and-green highlights on her hair. The girl wore a black and shimmering knee-length spaghetti-strapped dress. "Who's that girl?? Why would anyone think like Sirius??"

"That's our dear old Arabella and Sirius must have done something. Look at who's she's dancing with now??"

"Remus?? I think Sirius danced with her just now and did something to her hair. And neither Remus nor Stefanie was saying anything." Lily laughed.

"Let's go over and join them. I wanna dance with Arabella for the next song." James said and grabbed Lily's hand and walked through the dance crowd towards their friends. They continued dancing while looking at Sirius and Arabella.

The song ended and a fast song Infinity was blasting from the speakers. Everyone stopped their slow dance and started dancing rather wildly, all into the holiday mood.

"Hey Lils, where have you been all night??" Arabella shouted against the loud music.

"Was dancing of course."

"With??"

"James!!"

"I see." Arabella grinned at Lily.

"Hey Arabella." Frank tapped Arabella's shoulder. "Wanna dance together??"

"Ok." Arabella turned around and danced with Frank. Sirius, who was dancing together in the group was practically glaring at Frank, steaming.

"Hi Lily." Severus walked towards Lily. "Dance??"

"Okie." Lily agreed and started dancing with Severus, both looked happily dancing; totally forgotten about which house they belonged to because at that time, fun was the word. James was eyeing the couple as they danced together while he was dancing with Stefanie. 

"Why are you looking at Lily like that??" Stefanie asked cheekily. James did not answered or response to her question. "Hey!!" Stefanie waved in front of James.

"What??"

"Why are you looking at Lily like that??"

"I can't hear you."

"I ASKED WHY ARE YOU LOOKING AT LILY LIKE THAT??"  
  


"I CAN'T HEAR!!" James pretended to ignore Stefanie's question and danced together. Stefanie eyed James knowingly and made a mental note to tell Lily about it. It had been several months and Lily had not been able to remember anything about James. But the good thing was both of them became good friends and had rebuilt their whole friendship all over.

"SIRIUS BLACK!! I'M GOING TO GET YOU!!" Arabella shouted and stormed Sirius who was dancing with Phoebe Helliwell.

"What??" Sirius asked innocently.

"LOOK AT MY HAIR!!"

"It looks like mine!!"

"That's the problem!!"

"It's not!! It looks good!!"

"Change it back!!"

"What if I say I don't know??"

"Don't you dare not to know??"

"Catch me if you can." Sirius said cheekily. "Hey Phoebe, I catch you another time. It was great dancing with you." Sirius made his way out of the dance floor with Arabella after him.

"Change my hair back to my original colour!!"

"I won't. You look good, you know?? Maybe you can consider having it on for good??" Sirius said before continued moving through the crowd.

The whole group of them, along with their dates, laughed at the two of them. Frank had asked Phoebe to dance with him now that both their dates were gone.

"SIRIUS BLACK!!" A voice could be heard all over the Great Hall since it was the switching of songs. The song Can't Take My Eyes Off You had made the crowd danced even wilder, with the screaming of 'Sirius Black' forgotten.

"What do you think happened??" Lily asked James. They were dancing together again.

"Something certainly had happened. The question is what." James replied. Both of them were eyeing the entrance of the Great Hall for any sign of Arabella or Sirius.

"Arabella looked fine, but her hair still remained." Lily said as the group looked at Arabella who entered the Hall and headed towards them.

"Where's Sirius??" Remus asked.

"He became a ball." Arabella said sarcastically. The whole group of them started laughing as if it was a good joke. The next thing that they knew was screams was heard all over the Hall. A big and black ball with red-and-green striped was rolling about at the dance floor, knocking most of the people down.

"Don't tell me that's Sirius??" James laughed, looking at the rolling black ball that was creating chaos in the middle of the dance floor. His queries were answered as the black ball rolled towards James and knocked him down. Within minutes, most people were knocked down to the ground. Arabella was looking unusually pissed off while most people were still questioning what happened.

"Black, come with me now." Professor McGonagall shouted from the stage. The black ball rolled towards Professor McGonagall and knocked her to the ground.

"Two more hours to midnight." Dumbledore said and a slow song of Everything I Do, I Do It For You blasted from the speakers. The students got back to their feet and continued their dance while Professor McGonagall had led Sirius out off the Hall.


	52. Exploring the Grounds

**Chapter 51: Exploring the Grounds**

"Remus, you'll go as normal with Pomfrey. But this time, we must take precautions to make sure Snape can't see us going in. We must not let him know that we're Animagi. At about ten to twelve, we'll go down with my cloak. Peter will transform first to freeze the tree, then Si and I transform only in the tunnel. How's the plan??" James concluded after a short discussion of another rule-breaking adventure.

"Good idea." Sirius agreed wholeheartedly.

"It sounds rather foolproof. What if someone sees the tree stopped moving??" Remus asked.

"We're invisible. To the tree as well, I hope. Peter will freeze the tree." All of them looked at Peter and he nodded his head.

"I hope I can do it. Still a little afraid though." Peter said.

"Afraid of??" Sirius asked.

"The tree of course."

"Don't worry, Pete. Your transformation is fantastic. We need you to freeze the tree." James said comfortingly, putting an arm over Peter's shoulder.

"I'll try my best. This will be our first official transformation then." Peter said, trying to sound as brave as possible.

"We trust you and we depend on you for that." James grinned at Peter.

"Thanks. I'll do my best." Peter said quietly. _They treat me so well, as if I'm their true best friend. How could I do this to them?? But I can't betray Master. What can I do?? I really didn't expect them to be such great people. What am I supposed to do??_

"Anyone want some food??" Sirius suggested.

"Yeah. I'm getting hungry." James said and the Marauders left their dormitory and headed towards the kitchen.

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"Remus, take care. See you tonight." James told Remus the morning before they started heading down to the Great Hall for breakfast.

"It's going to be an exciting night ahead. We'll find you after our practice tonight." Sirius said excitedly.

"Won't you guys be tired??" Remus said worriedly. "We're always so tired after the lessons and practices."

"We'll be tired. But then, we've been planning this for about three years. This is going to be the first time all four of us going to be there together and explore the Forbidden Forest." James assured a tired-looking Remus.

"Thanks guys. I think you guys better go for breakfast. It's getting late." Remus said wearily.

"Take care, Rem." Peter said and then the three guys left the dormitory together.

Remus lay down and closed his eyes. Thoughts floated around in his mind. _James, Sirius and Peter are the best thing that could ever happen to me. I wonder what I would become without them. There's nothing I could do to ever repay friends like them. And Stef?? She's the most perfect girl I've ever seen. Pretty, sweet, gorgeous, nice, kind-hearted, everything a guy asked for in a girl. But we can never be together. I don't want to hurt her and ruin her happiness. Why are things so unfair?? Why must I be a werewolf??_

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"Where's Remus??" Stefanie asked as the three Marauders joined them at the Gryffindor table for breakfast.

"It's that time of the month." James answered coolly.

"So he's resting well??" Lily asked.

"Don't worry. It had been like that for the last five years."

"It's kinda rare to see the Marauders joining us for breakfast." Arabella said as she tried to snatch the omelets on Sirius' plate.

"What are you taking my egg??" Sirius pretended to whine.

"That was the last one on the table and it was supposed to be mine before you take it away."

"Your name wasn't on the egg. How can you say it's yours??"

"It's mine."

"No, it's not!!"

"It is!!"

"No!!"

"Yes."

"Hey guys, can you don't bicker for once??" James said, laughing at his two friends and a smashed omelet.

"It's his fault." Arabella complained and gave up the egg to eat a sausage.

"It's not my fault." Sirius said at the same time and ate up the remains of the omelet.

"You two make a cute couple." Lily joked.

"Thanks-a-lot." Arabella said sarcastically, giving Lily the look.

"Once a month, a Marauder is missing from the little gang huh." A sarcastic voice said from James and Lily's back.

"Well, so it's the slimy Snape again." James said coolly and continued eating his breakfast, ignoring Severus' presence.

"Hi Lily." Severus said politely.

"Oh, hi." Lily replied. The rest of the group gave Lily a strange look while James appeared to be concentrating onto his breakfast.

"Buzz of Snape." Sirius said angrily.

"I won't stay for long. Just pop by to remind you about someone." Severus said calmly. "Bye Lily." With that, he returned to the Slytherin table.

"Since when are you and Snape in first name basis??" Arabella asked.

"Since the night when I flew outside alone." Lily answered truthfully and continued eating her breakfast.

"Don't get to close with him. Afterall he's a Slytherin." Sirius said, eyeing Severus suspiciously.

"I won't. It was a coincidence. And he didn't seems so bad that time." Lily said.

"You never know. But just be careful." Stefanie advised.

"Thanks, Stef."

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"Remus should be there now." James said as he plopped onto his bed. It had been a long day of lessons for the fifth years and then practiced their powers.

"I can't wait for the Hogsmeade weekend on Saturday." Sirius complained and dropped onto the floor.

"Two more days to go." Peter pointed out.

"It's about forty-eight hours more!!" Sirius whined.

"Don't whine and look so sissy. We're going down to meet Remus soon." James instructed and headed to the bathroom for a warm shower.

"Don't bathe like a girl!!" Sirius called out to the half-naked James.

"Don't worry. I won't." James said behind the closed door and running water could be heard next.

"We better get a warm shower as well. It's gonna be a long night ahead." Sirius said and crawled to his trunk to fetch some clean clothes. Then both guys lay on the floor outside of the bathroom door waiting for James.

"Woah!! What are you two trying to do?? Ambush me??" James said as he walked across the two guys who were blocking his way.

"Who ask you took so long??" Sirius said as he dashed into the bathroom before Peter even had time to respond.

"I check the common room." James said and brought two dungbombs along.

"Sirius, faster." Peter shouted. James left the room and headed towards the Gryffindor common room.

"Hey Lily, what are you doing here??" James asked. Lily was sitting at a corner of the common room, totally oblivious to the fact that there was a fight between the first-year boys and second-year boys.

"Oh, hi James." Lily looked up from a book she was reading. "What are you doing here??"

"I asked you what are you doing here first." James said.

"I'm keeping a look-out at the fight there." Lily said.

"Don't pretend. You didn't even know I was here."

"Oh well, I'm just stoning here."

"Where's Bell and Stef??"

"Stef went to the library to research on werewolves and Bell is out with Frank at don't know where."

"Why didn't you go with Stefanie then??"

"Didn't feel like moving. I'm so tired. Joey and Samantha were out dating as well. I don't want to be alone in the dorm myself, so here I am."

"Poor thing huh."

"Duh."

"What are you reading??"

"Some muggle story book about X-Men."

"What are X-Men??" James asked and Lily started explaining and telling him about the major characters.

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"Where's James??" Sirius asked after Peter finished preparing himself.

"He said he went down to check the common room." Peter replied.

"That was fifteen minutes ago!!"

"He hasn't come up since then."

"I go down and get his butt up. Prepare the cloak first." Sirius left the dormitory muttering to himself.

"Wolverine has metal blades on his hands; Jean Grey is telekinetic; Iceman can freeze things; Rouge can absorb powers; Cylops has-" Lily was listing down some X-Men characters.

"Ah, Jamesie, there you are." Sirius called out.

"Hi Sir." Lily said, looking up. "You look taller again."

"Thanks. I'm at a cool height of 1.7meters now." Sirius boasted. "Anyway James, we're having a discussion upstairs now."

"Oops, I nearly forgot about that."

"I think you already did." Sirius teased. "With a pretty girl beside, you forgot all about Sirius the almighty."

"Ahem, James is greater than Sirius." James retorted jokingly.

"Whatever. Everyone knows about Sirius Almighty anyway. Let's go." Sirius said and literally dragged James up to the boys' dormitory.

"Bye guys."

"Bye Lily." With that, Sirius had dragged James out of sight from Lily. He took the dungbombs from James' pocket and threw it down to the common room. The dungbombs rolled down several steps and soon the people evacuated from the common room. The fight between the first and second years came to a halt and the audience dispersed back to their respective dormitories.

"Busy flirting with Lily huh." Sirius teased the moment he dragged James into the room.

"I wasn't _flirting_." James denied. "We were just _chatting_."

"I thought you went down _checking_."

"I did. Lily was alone so I went to join her."

"Whatever. It's nearing eleven. Let's get going." Sirius announced.

"Let's go." James said and covered themselves under the cloak. They were so used to being under the cloak that it was nothing new to them.

"Common room cleared." James whispered and the three of them crept quietly across the common room and out of the room. Walking closely together, they managed to avoid Filch and Mrs. Norris, as well as the patrolling prefects.

"Aren't you supposed to be patrolling tonight??" Sirius whispered to James.

"Dumbledore excused us if we've practices." James whispered back and the three Marauders walked along the castle and out without much trouble. They had known more shortcuts and corridor than most people.

"Cold night." Sirius commented the moment they stepped out of the castle. There was a soft breeze outside and although it's already February, it was rather cold.

"Peter, ready??" James said.

"Yes. Cross your fingers." Peter mumbled and started concentrating on his transformation. He slowly transformed himself to a tail-less rat.

James said the reverse-spell and Peter popped up again.

"Sorry, sorry." Peter said frantically.

"Don't worry about it. Everyone makes mistakes. Try again." James comforted. Peter concentrated again and the next moment, he transformed to a perfect rat. The rat looked up at the two of them and crawled cowardly towards the freezing point of the tree.

"Bingo." Sirius exclaimed the moment the tree stopped moving. They walked across the branches and headed towards the door cautiously. Sirius went down first then James followed behind. Once both of them were down safely, Peter crawled down quickly and the tree started swinging wildly once again.

"Let's transform now." James instructed after Peter was safely beside them. James and Sirius concentrated and with a pop, they transformed into a white stag and a black dog respectively. James and Sirius were practically opposites, but well, opposites attract. During one of their practices, James the stag and Sirius the dog had actually had a 'wrestling' match and after an hour, neither was defeated. Hence, they had concluded that it was the right animal for them because it was strong enough.

James the white stag, Sirius the black dog and Peter the gray rat walked across the tunnel and reached the Shrieking Shack. Remus had already transformed into his werewolf form and was crouching on the floor. The moment they stepped into the Shack, Remus looked up at each of them with an unspoken understanding, and then he gave a painful smile. _I don't know how can I ever thank them for being there for me at the worst point of my life._

James walked over the Remus and nuzzled Remus. Sirius did the same thing with Remus. Peter climbed onto Remus' hand and stood up, looking at him. All four of them seemed to know what was going through their mind although they were not speaking at all.

Sirius sniffed around the Shack and then he re-entered the tunnel. Remus and Peter followed and James was right behind, ready to pounce onto Remus in case of emergency.

Peter went up and froze the tree and Sirius came up to look around the castle windows to make sure no one saw them. Then he turned behind and gave a signaling look to the two friends behind.__

Together, they left the tunnel and dashed towards the Forbidden Forest together. Sirius was in front of Remus at all times while James was behind. It was dangerous to bring a werewolf so close to Hogwarts and if anything ever happened to anyone, they would be extremely guilty and would definitely be expelled for that.

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_I must be seeing things. A white stag, a black dog, a werewolf-like animal and a rat coming out from the Whomping willow, and rush towards the Forbidden Forest. I think I really need some sleep soon before I start hallucinating more animals running around school. This is so ridiculous._ Lily thought as she closed the windows of the girls' dormitory. _It's so boring to be here alone. Stef's probably still at the library, Bell and Sam are not back yet and Joe is already sleeping. _Lily had been stargazing for the last one hour since the dungbomb incident at the common room. She returned to her bed and soon she fell asleep.

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"What's that??" Arabella asked as she pointed towards the Forbidden Forest.

"What's what??" Frank turned around to check what Arabella was pointing to. "There's nothing there except for the Forbidden Forest."

"I thought I saw a stag, a dog, a rat and some werewolf-like animal going towards the direction of the forest." Arabella looked at the Forest, checking for any movements.

"There's nothing. It's either you are hallucinating or it's an excuse." Frank commented.

"I really saw something." Arabella insisted.

"Alright then. Let's head back. They're probably animals from the Forest." Frank assured and they walked briskly back towards the castle.

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_What are those animals heading into the Forest?? And what a weird combination of animals?? I thought I saw a werewolf. Werewolf. Remus. _Stefanie shook her head started walking briskly back to the Gryffindor tower. Her hands were loaded with three big books and out of which two were regarding werewolves. _I wonder how's Remus doing now._ Stefanie walked along, deep in thoughts.

"Ooh, students out of bed at twelve midnight." An irritating voice called out. Stefanie turned around to see Peeves floating around.

"Buzz off Peeves." Stefanie said and continued walking. Peeves flew to her front and tried to block her but Stefanie walked through him without any trouble.

"How dare you walk through me!! Wait till I inform Filch." Peeves said arrogantly.

"Suit you. Dumbledore had given me permission to go to the library until midnight. See who gets into trouble first." Stefanie said and ignored the pissed-off Peeves. The next moment, the three books dropped out from her hands. She gathered her books up magically and continued walking with Peeves following behind, trying to irritate Stefanie. But she had an amazing amount of patient and she was not a bit angry or pissed off but continued walking towards the Gryffindor tower.

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_I thought I saw Arabella along the lake with that idiotic Frank. What on earth are they doing together at this time of the night?? Argh.. Why are the two of them always together lately?? _Sirius was thinking as he walked and the next moment, he head-crashed onto a large tree trunk. _Ouch!! My head!!_

_What on earth is Sirius thinking?? He looked so off. And why would any idiot head-crash onto the tree trunk. Sirius already have no brain, and the more he knock, his I.Q. is bound to get lower. _James looked at the Sirius' tree crashing incident and laughed, making the sound of a laughing stag. The next thing was a werewolf laughing and a rat squeaky laughter.

Sirius turned around and flashed his white teeth at his three friends. _Was that very funny?? Consider these are my friends and they are laughing at me. Argh!!_ Sirius suddenly smelt something strange. So did Remus and he started walking briskly towards the source. James and Sirius sniffed around to trace the place where the strange smell could be coming from. Finally they reached an empty plot of land in somewhere at the middle of the Forbidden Forest. The four animagi looked at one another in bewilderment. They checked to make sure there were no traces of any movements before moving towards to check what was the empty land used for.

James walked forward cautiously; looking around for any signs of movement or traces of evidence left to check what that part of the forest was used for. _The grass patches here looks strange, like some sort of design. This area looks rather huge too. _James walked around the emptied area. _I wonder what is the significance of this place. The grass patch. Looks like a skull. Snake?? The Dark Mark!!_

_This looks like a good place to hang out. Far from the castle. Far from people. Somewhere in the heart of the Forbidden I guess. _Sirius walked around and sniffed around. _Why is James looking so horrified? A horrified looking stag sure looks interesting. Gotta tell James that. _Sirius stood on a grass patch and started digging like any other dog would. _This looks like a good place. A soil patch in the midst of the grass and somewhere in the center as well. _He was starting to dig a hole when Remus suddenly came and shoved him off.

_How could Sirius try to pee in the 'mouth' of the skull!! This is the Dark Mark, you idiot!! We can't leave traces of evidences that we're here, besides there are not much animals around this area of the Forest. _Remus looked at Sirius, trying to make Sirius understand what's going on but apparently it seemed to be rather unsuccessful.

_What on earth is Remus trying to do?? I only wanted to pee and that idiot doesn't let me pee!! What is he trying to do to me?? Spoil my bladder?? _Sirius barked at Remus. James rushed over and pinned Sirius on the ground, looking straight into his eyes. _Even James is trying to spoil my bladder._

_What on earth is that stupid Sirius doing?? Peeing onto the 'mouth' of the Dark Mark. He must be blind!! Even Remus and Peter figured out what it was. And Sirius?? Second top wizard of our year can't even see what it was. _James looked into Sirius' eyes, trying to make him understand their intentions. Sirius, being as dense as always, never seems to understand hints. He struggled and made James released him.

_Fine. I shall not pee as a dog!! I shall pee as a man!! Is that okay with you guys now?? _Sirius walked away from his 'strategic' position and wondered around. _I only wanted to feel how it's like to pee like a dog and you guys are making such a big fuss out of it._

James looked at Remus with some form of understanding. _I bet Sirius still hasn't know what's going on and he must be thinking what on earth we want to spoil his bladder for._

Remus grinned at James and turned to check out if Sirius was trying to pee anywhere near. Afterall Sirius was an amateur dog. _Looks like James and I are thinking along the same line. Sirius, dear old Sirius. Sirius is too unprofessional to pee like a dog. I don't really like the idea of covering his pee for him in the middle of the Death mark._

_I hope I'm doing the right thing by leading them to the Deatheaters meeting place. On one hand, I don't want anything to happen to James, Sirius or Remus. They are the friends that I had always wanted since young. But I can't betray Master as well. And if one day they fight, I'll be by Master's side but I hope the Supreme Seven can defeat him, so I can gain my freedom. Why is my life so miserable and complicated?? _Peter thought sadly as he looked at James and Remus trying to stop Sirius from peeing on the mouth of the skull on the grass-imprinted Dark Mark.

They wondered around for a little while more and James signaled that it's time to head back. It was getting rather late. The four animagi tried to find their way out of the Forest. At the edge, Peter scurried towards the Whomping Willow and froze the tree while the three of them rush towards the tunnel one by one, with Sirius in front and James behind Remus. One the three of them entered, Peter joined them and they headed back towards the Shrieking Shack.

At the end of the tunnel, they looked at one another and Remus went into the Shack, leaving the three of them outside. James, Sirius and Peter turned back and headed for the direction of the castle. Once again, Peter froze the tree, while both of them transformed and covered themselves with the croak and walked upwards. Loud howls could be heard from afar.

James and Sirius rushed towards the sideway of the castle and revealed a little to allow Peter the rat to join them. He transformed back to his original self and the three guys headed back towards the Gryffindor tower in the cloak. Once again, they managed to avoid Peeves, Filch, and Mrs. Norris along the way.

The three of them walked briskly along the corridors in silence and did not say a word until they were safely in their soundproofed dormitory.

"That was the Dark Mark." James said gravely.

"So that's why you didn't allow me to pee??" Sirius replied tiredly.

"For goodness sake, you're trying to pee on the mouth of the skull. Do you think any decent minded person will let you do it?? We can't leave traces of evidences that we were out there in the first place. Besides you're too unprofessional to pee like a dog." James explained as he made himself comfortable on his bed.

"It's already three, let's sleep." Peter mumbled from his bed.

"Good night, let's talk about this another time when Remus is back." James said and the fifth-year boys' dormitory went silence with typical snoring sounds.


	53. Making of the Map

**Chapter 52: Making of the Map**

"Rem, your M.S. homework??" James was about to finished the homework of his best and favorite subject, Transfiguration. Remus passed James his Muggle Studies homework and started doing the Charms homework, which they had borrowed from Lily for reference.

"What on earth were those people thinking when they set us all these junk??" Sirius complained as he put his finished Defense Against Dark Arts assignment and started Divination with Arabella's assignment as reference.

"We're having O.W.L.s this year, what do you expect??" Remus answered without looking up from his Charms homework, writing quickly and as neatly as possible.

"How could those girls ever finish all their assignments?? We barely have enough time to even eat and sleep." James complained as he wrote in an extraordinary speed for his Muggle Studies homework. "Eight more inches to go." He muttered to himself as he measured the length of his essay.

"Conquered Div homework!!" Sirius cheered as he took James' Transfiguration homework, which was being air-dried in process. "Now for Transfig. Argh!! Twenty inches long!! McGonagall's mad!!"

"Don't let her catch you saying that alliteration!!" James joked as he put the Muggle Studies homework to dry and took Arabella's Divination assignment.

"Any more ink??" Sirius asked. "I finished my bottle after three assignments." Sirius had the tendency to play with his inkbottle during lessons. A week ago both James and Sirius were having an ink-fight at the back of the class during History of Magic. They left the classroom having droplets of black ink all over them. Both guys had found it so stylish that they had those ink spots on them for the entire day. 

"Well, considering you had used your ink for more than writing purposes, I'm not surprised." Remus joked as he put his Charms homework aside to dry and started on History of Magic essay with Stefanie's for reference.

"Pete, where's your Herby homework??" James asked Peter after he rushed through his Divination homework, which was purely guessing work.

"On my bed. Help yourself. I'm doing the Transfig now." Peter said as he buried himself in the pile of parchment on another corner of his table.

The fifth-year boys' dormitory had never had so many parchments laid on the beds and floor waiting to be dried. Their own homework, along with the girls' homework were scattered around the room. It was the Easter Break but they were not spared from doing their work. If not for the fact that lessons was starting in two days time, they probably would not even had started doing their assignments.

Knock!! Knock!!

"Alohomora." James used his left hand and pointed his wand at the door. He did not even turned around to see who was at the door or whatsoever. He was simply too busy doing his Herbology homework on characteristics of some rare plant, which to him seems to be rather useless.

"Hey guys, are you guys done with the homework??" Lily called out.

"Wah, I've never seen so much drying parchments and quills and inks in this dormitory before." Arabella said in amusement.

"This is indeed a rare sight. Four pranksters doing their homework together on a Saturday afternoon." Stefanie remarked as she started hunting for her own homework with Lily and Arabella.

"We're not done with your homework yet. Return you girls tonight." James called out. The other three Marauders were apparently too engrossed in their work to reply.

"Ok. We're going out to practice Quidditch. Come find us if you guys can finish before dinnertime." Lily said. The three girls left the dormitory giggling away, laughing at the sight of the guys and their dormitory.

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"I'm beat!!" James complained while he gathered his clothes for shower.

"I'm bathing first!!" Sirius said and dashed into the bathroom with just a towel.

"Hurry up!! We need our sleep!!" Remus shouted to Sirius.

"This year seems to be so hectic as compared to the previous years." James remarked as he sat on the floor, leaning against his bed.

"We're having our O.W.L.s this year. Quidditch practices thrice a week. Practice with Dumbledore twice a week. Our night rendezvous once a month and various pranking adventures weekly. Don't you think it's a lot of work??" Remus commented.

"At least you guys don't have prefect duties. I spend once a week patrolling the school from ten to one."

"So how can we reduce our workload??"

"Get the girls to do the homework for us??" Peter suggested.

"Not a wise move. Lily has the same commitments as James and she seems to be taking it quite well." Remus commented.

"How did she do that, I just wonder." James thought.

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"I bet those guys never thought of using a time turner." Lily giggled. It was already nighttime and the guys had yet to return their homework and assignments to them.

"Remus has one, doesn't he??" Stefanie commented. The three girls were hanging out together in their dormitory. Their two roommates were still out with their girlfriends from Ravenclaw.

"I don't know. But anyway luckily McGonagall got us one in case we ever need it." Lily commented as she lied on her bed.

"I don't think she trust those four with a time turner. It could be misused. Especially if it's by those four guys." Arabella said. She was repainting her toenails with another shade of pink because some of the polish had chipped off during the day.

"They must we wondering how we're doing our homework and yet having so much fun at the same time." Lily said.

"I'm not surprised. Anyway who's keen on a face mask??" Stefanie asked as she took out her pack of facial masks.

"Me!!" Lily and Arabella chorused and jumped onto Stefanie's bed.

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"How long did we take to finish all the work??" James asked tiredly.

"More than twelve hours." Remus checked his watch.

"Shall we do something to reward our hard work??" James suggested. He lied on the floor, eyes closed, too tired to move about.

"A prank??" Sirius suggested with the lack of enthusisium.

"We need something more than a prank." Remus commented.

"How about a map??" James suggested. "We thought of that somewhere in the last few years but never ever managed to do it."

"That's a great idea." Peter praised.

"Let's start on it. We don't have much time till the end of the year." Remus commented.

"So how're we going to start doing it??" Sirius asked.

"We need a parchment, wands, charms, spells, etc." James said as he sat up, taking a piece of unused parchment from his desk.

"Ok, how are we going to put the whole Hogwarts into this small piece of paper??" Sirius pointed out.

"We can expand the paper when we want to use??" Peter suggested.

"Not possible because this map is not allowed in the first place. Hogwarts never has a map." James said, twiddling his wand.

"It's true. We can't let anyone know about this map."

"There's like countless levels and loads of tunnels and numerous rooms in Hogwarts that we've never been to before."

"So how about we design an overall map and we can say a charm to zoom in and out??"

"I was thinking of that as well."

"So how're we going to charm the lines or something??"

"Didn't we learn about some charm that allow lines and words to appear on parchment magically before?? It was created by some handicapped wizard or something??"

"I think I have some idea."

"Let me go get the Charms book." Remus went to fetch his book from his desk.

"We only need to show where each rooms are. So we'll know where we're at that point of time."

"But it's pointless since most of the corridors look identical."

"Then??"

"How about we put markings onto people??"

"You mean those little moving dots or something??"

"Then we can check if there's any one around us or something."

"We can colour code the people as well."

"I don't think we should. How about all those who graduated and the new first years??"

"Then what about putting their names below their little dots??"

"I agree with James for that idea."

"Don't forget our parchment is rather small."

"I know. We can make it smaller."

"Did we learn any charm to make those little moving dots??"

"I don't think so. But I believe there is."

"You sure??"

"I remember Lily joked about it before. She said take a hair of us then charm the hair to move on the chalk drawn table or something. Remember that little game we played when we were a little mad somewhere last couple of months??"

"Yes. The hair and the chalk-marked table of Gryffindor common room."

"We can do something like that except we don't use the hair."

"How are we going to get a strand of hair from every single soul in Hogwarts??"

"What about those visitors and incoming batches??"

"Their names need to be registered with this too."

"How can we register those people in??"

"I've got an idea but I'm not sure if it's feasible enough."

"We charm something from the Grand Entrance?? Like the stair or statue or something??"

"Sounds like those muggle sensors."

"Sensors??"

"It's like scanning the stuffs. Some muggle shops I been to have something like this to check the number of customers they have every day."

"We definitely can't use sensoars."

"Sensors." James corrected Sirius. They had done something on muggle sensors for Muggle Studies before but apparently Sirius had forgot all about them.

"Ok, sensors. We can't use those because they run on electricity."

"We can use charms as sensors."

"Charm the steps?? Everyone who come into Hogwarts have to walk through there."

"We need to find that charm."

"It there such a charm??"

"I don't know. Charms aren't my forte."

"We can't tell the girls about that. At least not yet."

"I agree with James."

"So how're we going to name who's who??"

"It's possible because everyone who step into Hogwarts is registered in a way or another."

"By some quill McGonagall own."

"Great. How to get that??"

"We can borrow it."

"Did you guys ever see it before??"

"Yes."

"How??"

"During my practice I go forward and backward time. Explored McGonagall's office once out of boredom."

"So how does it look like??"

"Something like the Sorting Hat. It can talk and think for itself."

"Sounds amazing."

"It is."

"Why didn't you tell us??"

"It was nothing of significant considering I'm traveling twice a week."

"So we need to borrow the quill??"

"I don't know if it can be borrow."

"How are we going to get it?? Hey Maggie, we're planning to design a Hogwarts map and we would need to borrow your special quill so as we know everyone in Hogwarts??"

"How would she respond??"

"Something more than just detentions."

"Ok, that's out of the topic. So any other suggestion??"

"We can have some charm sensor like stuffs at the statue beside the Great Hall. Everyone goes in there. We can register their name as they enter so as every single soul will appear in our map, even the Hogwarts ghosts."

"Ok, we need a charm on that."

"How about a password to the map?? I don't think anyone else besides us should be able to read it. They should see it as a blank parchment."

"We charm it invisible?? Then we take the visibility potion??"

"It wears off."

"Then password protected??"

"Like a charmed password??"

"What should it be??"

"The Marauders rules??"

"Nah."

"The best guys on earth??"

"Sirius, please think of something better."

"What if we want to pass down to our future generations??"

"You mean _your_ _son_??" Remus teased.

"Not that!!"

"Anyway I agree with James. We should think of something more prankster style."

"I'm a bad boy."

"There are four of us."

"We're bad boys??"

"Not good enough."

"I'm up to no good."

"Something better."

"I swear I am up to no good."

"How about 'I _solemnly_ swear that I am up to no good'??" Remus suggested.

"Bingo!! That's the one!!" James exclaimed.

"Ok. To activate the map we use that."

"Roger that??"

"Mischief off??"

"Mischief _managed_??"

"Sounds cool. So to activate it, we use 'I solemnly swear that I am up to no good' and for inactivation, we use 'mischief managed'?? Everyone agree??" Sirius, Remus and Peter nodded that heads agreeing.

"So what do we miss out now??"

"We're going to charm the lines, add the sensor at the Great Hall to check for current population and at the Grand Entrance for the visitors and incoming students. Then we've password encoded the map. What else do we need??"

"We need to be credited."

"What??"

"Maybe in one thousand years time, the pranksters who own this map should remember who they ought to thank."

"For what??"

"It's not easy to create this map."

"So??"

"I want my great-great-great-great-great-grandchilden to know and remember us. We shall be the legendary pranksters."

"Whatever. So how are we going to put it??"

"Jamesie, Siriusie, Remmie and Petie??"

"Sounds like four girls!!"

"How about nicknames??"

"That four are our nicks!!"

"Something more unknown. What if Maggie picked up the map and found out how to use it??"

"I don't exactly fancied to be credited at that point of time."

"How about something more subtle??"

"Like??"

"James can use, erm, Staggie??"

"Sounds so horrible!! So unmanly!!"

"Excuse me!! Who is the unmanly boy here??"

"Sirius, you can call yourself doggie if James is call Staggie."

"Doggie sounds so eeky!!"

"Then you wanna call yourself wolfie??'

"And rattie??"

"Can we think of something more macho sounding??" James said, exasperated at all sorts of ridiculous nicks Sirius was thinking up.

"I wanna something like Stag, stallion, I know I'm not, but well, a nick anyway. Or spikes or prongs or something more male-sounding."

"Prongs sounds good. Pronggie Jamesie. It rhymes."

"Sirius!! Don't forget who became the poodle first!!"

"And you keep getting pad footed."

"Yeah, you might as well as call me padfoot huh??"

"That's what your nick is going to be. Padfoot. Rem, Pete, agree with me??" Remus and Peter laughed and nodded their head.

"Noooo!!"  
  


"It sounds so disgusting."

"I think it's nice."

"I agree with James."

"Me too."

"Ok, so what's mine again??"

"Spike??"

"Prongs??"

"I think I wanna be Prongs, Sirius is Padfoot-"

"I didn't agree to be nicknamed Padfoot!!"

"You didn't have a choice. We gave you that."

"That's not-"

"Rem, Pete, what about you guys??"

"What about _me_?? I don't wanna be called pad-"

"Moony?? I thought it sounded interesting since it rhymes with loony and Remmie."

"Ok, subtle enough. You're the only werewolf around so it's better to have something not so obvious."

"Pete??"

"Wormtail??" Peter suggested. _Master wanted my nick to be Wormtail and I've to follow._

"Why??"

"Because my first trial was a tail which looks a little worm-like."

"Oh ya. I can still remember how it looks."

"Ok, Prongs, Padfoot, Moony and Wormtail."

"I didn't agree to be called Pa-"

"Mister Prongs, Padfoot, Moony and Wormtail??"

"Rearrange the nicks a little. It sounds a little strange."

"I want Prongs to be the last name mentioned."

"How about Mister Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs??"

"You finally agree to be called Padfoot??"

"No, I don't. That's why I put it second last."

"Padfoot oei!! Padfoot oei!!" James said and pretended to start dancing as he cheered.

"Shut up!!" Sirius said and used his eyes to control a pillow to throw at James' face.

"Ouch!!"

"So Mister Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs are proud to present The Marauder's Map??"

"Add more to it. Introduction not lengthy enough."

"I think it's good enough."

"Alright then. A dramatic opening??"

"Fast is the word since we're going to use it for ourselves."

"Ok."

"So right now, we need to find the charm for the lines, then the sensor charms, then the passwords and miscellaneous of other charms."

"Should be much of a problem since we learned the passwording charm and those activation and inactivation stuffs before."

"Let's aim to get this out in one week??"

"You create yourself. One week?? It's not like lessons aren't enough to kill us."

"One month. We've about one plus month before school ends."

"So one month is our limit. Meanwhile we shall stop exploring the grounds a little."

"Let's have some sleep. The idea of tomorrow Quidditch map isn't very inviting since we're going to play versus Slytherin once again."

"Quidditch match you mean??"

"I'm dreaming."

"You haven't even fallen asleep."

"Do you remember your position for the match??"

"Yes, I'm the Chaser again. Kenneth is taking over the Keeper Position."

"You better not start catching the Quaffle when you are supposed to be throwing it over the hoop."

"I'm not that dumb."

"We don't guarantee that."

"I think we better sleep soon. It's getting late."

"Ok."

"Good night."

33333333333333333333

"Let's go to the Grand Entrance first." James whispered as the four Marauders moved quietly along the corridors towards the entrance.

"Cut in here." Sirius pointed at the painting. A distant meowing sound could be heard which could mean that Mrs. Norris was around the corner. The four boys said climbed through an entrance at the portrait and walked across the room, which would lead them nearer to the entrance.      

"Hey, we missed out the speech bubbles." Remus said suddenly.

"What speech bubbles??"

"We must make the character say the password as well, just in case we forget or to let our future generation know about them."

"Let's add them tonight when we return."

"We're nearing the Entrance, where's the charm??"

"Here, I wrote it down."

"Ok, same for the one at Great Hall."

The four guys moved swiftly and quietly towards the outside steps of Hogwarts. James looked at the parchment and pointed his wand and a step and muttered the charm. Then he pointed to another step and muttered the same charm. The books had said that repetitive charming the same thing would enhance the sensitivity and accuracy.

After saying about ten times, they returned inside and headed towards the direction of the Great Hall. The charm they used was permanent and it can be used for years and years and never wear off.

"My turn to say the charm." Sirius said and took over the parchment. He muttered at least twenty times at all directions of the doorway. James and Remus had to start tugging him backwards to stop him from charming the entrance statues further.

"We need to get back soon. Speech bubbles." Remus whispered and the four guys brisk walked back towards the Gryffindor tower.

"What else are we lacking in our flawless map??" James asked.

"I think it's too perfect." Sirius remarked.

"Ok. Let's do the finishing touches tonight."

"We can try it out in the next two weeks. And by next year we'll know if our charms at the entrances work or not."

"Let's hurry a little." The four boys broke into a slow but quiet jog underneath the cloak.

33333333333333333333

"Finished!!"

"Completed!!"

"Concluded!!"

"Ended!!"

The four boys were in their dormitory with some food and beverages from the kitchens, celebrating the completion of their Marauder's Map.

"One month of hard work!!" James raised his goblet for a toast.

"It's definitely worth it!!"

"And it's foolproof!!"

"Let's check it out next year."

They had used the map every single night to make sure it worked perfectly well. They had spent an hour every night exploring the map, correcting the mistakes and doing the finishing touches to make it looked perfect in every way.  
  


"First map of Hogwarts!!"

"We might still need to edit it whenever necessary."

"Definitely."

"Editing charm is with me."

They had their map in front of them. Four heads were looking over. On the map, it showed Lucius and Severus and some Slytherins were heading towards the prefects' bathroom.

"They're bringing their friends to the Prefects only bathroom." James commented.

"Shall we teach them a lesson??" Sirius asked cheekily.

"Definitely." Peter agreed.

"Let's go and magicked their clothes away so they've to return to Slytherin tower naked." Sirius joked.

"Make the clothes invisible is enough. They can magic more clothes anyway." James pointed out.

"Add the visibility potion into the bathtub." Remus grinned.

"Ok, let's do it now!!" James instructed. They gathered their pranking equipments and left their dormitory.


	54. Glimpses

**Chapter 53: Glimpses**

_Where am I?? Am I having some premonitions in my dreams again?? _Arabella tossed and turned around in the bed, cold sweat formed around her sleeping face. _I've got a bad feeling about this._

_Wake up!! Stef?? What's happening??_

_Stefanie was covered with some bruises over her and was lying on the ground unconscious._

_What's that sound??_

_Sirius was flew out from somewhere and landed in front of Arabella._

_Sirius!! Wake up!!_

_I thought we were protected against curses and spells. How could anything ever hurt them??_

_Dark magic._

_Suddenly James' and Remus' voice could be heard some distance away._

_Arabella ran towards the source._

_"Let them go!!" James shouted at a guy who was dressed in black and had a shallow face with blood shot eyes. Beneath the deadly look, one could see that the man was once good looking, although evil loomed over his face right now_

_"Go get Dumbledore!!" Lily struggled to shout and the two deatheaters held her tighter and shut her up with force._

_"No one could help anyone of you. Join me and I shall let you off." Voldemort said._

_"Never ever." James retorted bravely._

_"Gryffindor spirit huh." Voldemort said in a very calm manner._

_"Take me if you want. Let them off." James said._

_"Take me instead. Let them off." Remus said. James looked at Remus, some form of understanding shared._

_"What I want is a healer and someone with a gift of premonition?? What would I want both of you for??" Voldemort said, turning towards Lily and the slightly older-looking Arabella._

_That's myself. But how old is that??_

_"Tell me about my future." Voldemort said to the slightly older and trapped Arabella, touching her face with his cold hand._

_"You'll be defeated!!" Arabella said insolently and shook off Voldemort's hand._

_"How dare you!!" Voldemort gave Arabella a tight slap._

_"Bell!!" The older Arabella bit her lower lip to hold back the anger and pain. Lily looked at Arabella sympathetically, glaring at Voldemort with anger and revenge._

_"Stop it!!" Arabella shouted in her dreams. No one could hear her of course._

_James conjured up an imaginary punch and controlled it to hit it hard on the deatheaters who were holding Lily and Arabella as captives. Both girls released themselves and ran back to join James and Remus._

_"Great display of wandless magic." Voldemort said. "But you can't do that to me. I've magic to protect myself from children like you." James looked as if he was ready to boil. He glared at Voldemort murderously._

_Remus quietly slid behind the three of them and disappeared._

_"Master, one of them escaped!!" A deatheater spoke up._

_"Capture them!!" Voldemort instructed. A big herd of deatheaters appeared from all directions and surrounded Lily, James and Arabella._

_"NOOO!!" _

33333333333333333333

"Bell is having nightmares again!!" Stefanie said as she shook a shivering Arabella.

"Wake up!!" Samantha lightly slapped Arabella's face.

"Joey, wake Lily up please??" Stefanie asked. _Bell is having a horrible premonition. If I enter her thoughts, more things might happen. How can we wake her up??_

"What happening??" Lily asked sleepily as Joey pulled her upright.

"Bell is having a nightmare!!" Samantha said as she tried shaking Arabella more vigorously.

"Oh no!!" Lily jumped out of bed and the four girls were surrounding Arabella.

"NOOOOOO!!!!" Arabella shouted and sat upright all the sudden, knocking her head onto Stefanie's. Arabella sat up, stunned for a moment and tried to gather her thoughts.

"Are you alright??" Joey asked in a concerned tone.

"You're hafing a nightmare, aren't you??" Samantha said, wiping Arabella's cold sweat with tissues.

"Yes. It was horrible." Arabella said as she looked at her concerned friends.

"Everything is fine now. We're here." Lily said as she hugged Arabella.

"Don't worry." Stefanie pushed back Arabella's hair and looked at her.

_Bad premonition??  
  
_

_Yes._

_How bad??_

_Life threatening._

_Tell Dumbledore tomorrow._

_Ok._

"Do you want some water??" Joey asked a calmed down Arabella.

"Yes please. Thanks." Arabella said tiredly, still lying onto Lily's shoulder. Joey got some water from the bathroom and drank down slowly. _That was one of the most horrible premonitions I ever have._

"Do you want some sleeping potion??" Samantha asked.

"I think I need that. And some dreamless potion as well if you have." Arabella said.

"I've them." Samantha went to her bedside table and fetched two bottles over and poured them into Arabella's goblet.

"Drink them down and you'll be sleeping in no time." Samantha said soothingly.

"Thanks, girls. Sorry if I woke you up." Arabella said apologetically and gulped down the mixed potion.

"It's alright. We're here for you." Lily said. Arabella fell back onto her pillows and slept peacefully instantly.

"Let's head back to bed." Stefanie said as she pulled the comforters up to Arabella's chest, arranging her hands over her stomach. Samantha and Joey returned to their respective beds first.

_It's a horrible one._

_I guessed that._

_See Dumbledore tomorrow morning._

_Wake me up early._

_I will._

Stefanie and Lily returned to their beds after making sure Arabella was comfortable. Both girls tossed and turned on their beds for some time before falling asleep again.

33333333333333333333

"Remus, can you travel twenty years down to check out the situation??" Dumbledore asked Remus. The six of them gathered together the morning after Arabella's premonition. She told her entire dream to all of them and they were brainstorming on how to solve the situation.

"I'll go with him." James offered.

"Me too." Sirius said.

"We all are going together." Stefanie said, looking at Lily and Arabella for permission. Both girls nodded agreeing.

"I'm glad the six of you are so united. What we need now is the seventh person so that you all can be invincible." Dumbledore said.

"But who is it??" James asked.

"I don't know." Dumbledore said quietly. "The six of you better set off soon."

Remus nodded. The six of them held hands and closed their eyes tight.

They could feel the surrounding swirling for a few seconds and stopped. Remus opened his eyes to check first.

"We're here." Remus said, looking around. They had landed outside Hogwarts not too far away from Hagrid's hut.

"Shall we go and ask him about it??" James said, pointing at Hagrid's hut. They walked towards Hagrid's hut and knocked on his door. Suddenly a dog barked and they jumped in a fright. Hagrid opened the door and looked at them in amazement.

"Who are you??" Hagrid asked.

"I'm Remus, that's James, Sirius, Stefanie, Lily and Arabella." Hagrid looked at the six fifteen-year-olds and they looked at him.

"Erm, Remus??" Hagrid looked at Remus.

"Yes."

"How did yeh guys get here??"

"We traveled through time to the future. Basically we're fifth years." Remus explained.

"No wonder. Dumbledore always say teh six of yeh are gifted. Now I can see why." Hagrid grinned at them.

"We need some information about some stuffs." James said, straight to the point.

"About what??"  
  


"First, Voldemort." Hagrid looked a little shocked to hear the name.

"He-who-must-not-be-named in power now. He's teh most powerful wizard. Dumbledore might not be his match." Hagrid explained. "Things happened, people died."

"What happened to us??" James asked again.

"James an' Lily killed by He-who-must-not-be-named. Sirius sent to Azkaban, Stefanie went missing for years since Sirius went into Azkaban." Hagrid shuttered. "Remus and Arabella became the Defense Against Dark Arts professor for a year each."

"Oh my god."

"Unbelivable. How could I ever be sent to Azkaban??"

"You were said to betray Lily an' James."

"Never ever!!"

"I don't know. You killed a dozen muggles an' Peter."

"Oh merlin."

"What about Stefanie??"

"She was n'ver heard since Sirius sent to Azkaban. Must've gone hidin'."

"So many things had happened to us."

"But James an' Lily has a son named Harry Potter who is known to be the-boy-who-lived." James and Lily were blushing furiously, not looking at anyone else. This time, the situation was too serious to make a joke out of it.

"Then how long was I in Azkaban??"

"Twelve years."

"Then??"

"You escaped from there, came to Hogwarts an' escaped. Till now, unheard o'."

"I rather not hear about my future." Lily muttered to herself.

"I wonder if there's anyway for us to change it." James asked no one in particular.

"It's not possible. Our future is fixed. I've been to our past before. Similar case." Remus said quietly.

"Maybe we can try to reverse the situation??" Sirius suggested.

"How??" Arabella asked.

"I don't know. Maybe we defeat Volcano before he erupts??" Sirius replied.

"I think we were trying that out. That's my nightmare last night." Arabella said quietly. Silence filled the room.

"Thanks Hagrid. I think we got to start heading back now." James spoke up, breaking the five minutes of silence they shared in Hagrid's hut.

"Obliviate!!" Remus shouted to Hagrid just before he shut the door. "Let's head back now!!" The six of them held their hands together and returned to Dumbledore's office in present day.

"How was it??" Dumbledore asked. The six of them went into a long description of what Hagrid said. Each of them added some left out details for one another.

"Why don't you travel with us through time as well??" Remus asked Dumbledore after everything.

"I can't leave Hogwarts unattended at any time. It will endanger everyone else. Besides this is your life. It's not mine. I can only advise you all, but you will have to lead it yourself."

33333333333333333333

"We can't change the future. Don't brood over it and just lead it the way it is." Arabella said exaperatedly.

"You're going to be a _professor_ while I'm going to sit in Azkaban and rot and then go missing in action for good!!" Sirius practically shouted. The seven of them were in the boys' dormitory discussing.

"We don't have a choice!!" Remus said. Sirius was very stubborn and brooding over the fact that he would end up in Azkaban.

"Let's defeat Volcano for good so Lily and I won't die and you won't go to Azkaban." James said finally.

"But how??"

"We need the seven items."

"We need to try to defeat him without them."

"Sounded impossible."

"But we're really no match for him."

"What can we do??"

"Even Dumbledore have no idea."

"It's our life afterall."

"I think the only thing we can do is just wait for the time to come."

"I waiting to be sent to Azkaban for murdering muggles?? I better enjoy my life to the fullest first."

"Sirius, I already know a lot of things that all of you don't know. If I let those facts haunt me. I won't be able to lead a life in the first place." Arabella said finally after a long silence.

"Tell us about it." Sirius said.

"I won't. Some things are best left unknown. Let nature takes its course."

"Give Bell some peace. She's suffering more than we do."

"Can we take a break during the summer break??"

"Like how??"

"Go somewhere far away??"

"Free from studies."

"Free from schools."

  
"Free from responsibilities."

"Free from practices."

"Free from people."

"Free from Volcanoes." Sirius said and the seven of them start laughing.

"Pete, can you join us this time??" James asked Peter who had been keeping quiet throughout the whole conversation.

"No, I can't. Parents won't allow." Peter said quietly. _I really don't want to tell Master some stuff that I know. I rather not know. Master used Dark Magic to block my memory from erased off by the Memory Charm and made me repeat everything I know about them to him subconsciously. What can I do?? I can only hope all of you defeat him soon._

"Not negotiable??" Sirius said. Peter shook his head sadly.

"Can we discuss this during the break?? I'm really tired." Arabella spoke up.

"I think we better get some rest. We need to start revising for our O.W.L.s soon. Only three weeks away." Lily said. The three girls stood up and left the dormitory. Arabella's premonition had added extra stress to the five of them.

James 'obliviated' Peter after the girls left the dormitory.

"I think we better get some sleep. It's gonna be another killer week from tomorrow onwards." Remus said and climbed into his bed. The other three guys followed suit and returned to their respective beds.

"Good night."

33333333333333333333

"How's your memory with James??" Stefanie asked as they returned to their dormitory.

"Not much improvements. But it's ok. Anyway I've nice new memories of him. But some parts of my memories aren't there. Like certain things that happened when I was younger. Part of me knows that something had happened during that time. But I just can't seems to remember them."

"I thought you only forgotten about James."

"I don't know. But now I know James as a new friend. And hearing that we're going to have a child together was really embarrassing."

"We met Harry Potter when we traveled though time before."

"We did??"

"You don't remember??"

"Not much of an impression actually."

"We all traveled back through time. Remember James discovered the pensieve?? Fawkes??" Stefanie suggested.

"I don't. Today was the first time I heard about Harry Potter."

"It's not. We met him before."

"I don't remember."

"Don't think too much. Some day you'll remember."

"It's a pity Remus can't take you back to our past."

"Yeah. It really is. Otherwise I can watch it like a show."

"You past self might try to kill your present self although you're an illusion."

"I know. There can't be two mes and two Remuses at the same dimension. And even if it's at the same time, we can't meet. It might be disastrous." Lily sighed.

"Don't be discouraged. Someday those memories might just pop out."

"Where it does or it doesn't, it does not matter anymore. I'll remember James the way he is now. The past isn't as important as the present."

"Let's forget the past, don't bother about the future, and lead the life now!!" Arabella said.

"Make that our motto in life!!"

33333333333333333333

"Hey Lils." James called out from behind.

"I thought you were at the prefects' room already." Lily turned around.

"Was out having fun with the Slytherins." James said, grinning.

"Having fun with the Slytherins?? What a way to put it."

"We were. Guess what we done??"

"Colored their hair??" James shook his head.

"Modified their clothes??" James shook his head again.

"Then??"

"Nothing much actually."

"I don't believe that."

"We just did a little bit with their beds."

"What?? Put cockroaches on their bed??"

"Nah. We just did something to those beds we could lay our hands on."

"What??"

"Jinxed them to make the beds collapsed at three in the morning."

"That's so mean!!"

"That's us!!"

"When did you do that??"

"During dinner time."

"Smart huh. Malfoy's is celebrating his sixteenth birthday at the Slytherins' table today."

"Too bad mine wasn't that great."

"What you mean by not great??"

"Getting smashed by a cake isn't my idea of great."

"Well. That was my idea."

"Jeez. Thanks manz."

"Yeah."

"Not angry, are you??"

"Nope. I just did the same thing to you 'coz you did that to me last time."

"You remember that??"

"I remembered being smashed by a cake. By who, I don't know. Bell and Stef told me and that's why I suggested that."

"Oh well."

"When's our patrolling duty again??"

"The week after O.W.L.s"

"Great. Free night again."

"Yeah, better start studying."

"Don't worry about me."

"I'm not."

"You're not??"

"Why should I??"

"Because you like me??"

"Excuse me??"

"Don't you??"

"No, I don't. Don't think so highly of yourself."

"I'm just being confident."

"That's _overconfident_."

"It's still _confident_."

"If you say so."

"Then who do you like??"

"No one."

"Don't bluff."

"Really."

"Fine."

"Ego deflated??"

"A little."

"Good. Your ego is too big."

"Sirius' one bigger."

"Both are equally huge."

"They're normally sized."

"I think they're the size of the earth!!"

"If mine is earth, Sirius' must be Jupiter."

"Yeah. Remus is Neptune huh."

"Peter is Pluto."

"Wow. So this is how you guys measure your ego sizes."

"You suggested it."

"Yeah. Planet sizes are the best way of measuring ego sizes. It's too big to be measured by any measuring units."

"People measure planets too."

"But it's only an estimate by the satellite."

"So our ego sizes are estimated as well??"

"Something like that." Lily joked. "Here we are."

"Guess who's inside??"

"Andrew and Michelle."

"You're guessing the obvious."


	55. OWLs

**Chapter 54: O.W.L.s**

"Ahh!! I can't transfigure the matchstick to rabbit properly!!" Lily shrieked. It was the day before their O.W.L. exams. They were practicing their Transfiguration, which was going to be their first paper.

"Don't worry so much, Lils. You can do it. Try again." Stefanie said as she transfigured a parchment to a quill and back again.

"We still have a couple more hours to practice." Arabella said, transfiguring a parchment to a full-length mirror and back again.

"I hate Transfig!!" Lily muttered and concentrated even harder to transfigure the matchstick again.

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"Looks like we are the least worried fifth-years about tomorrow Transfig. Paper." James said, lying near the lake looking at the late afternoon sky.

"I think we're pros at them already." Sirius boasted, lying beside James.

"We're pros at everything." James added.

"If you're that great, you won't need help for Charms, M.S., H.O.M., Herby, C.O.M.C., Div-" Remus went on and on about James' weaker subjects.

"Thanks for reminding me about them." James said sarcastically.

"That's to keep your ego at bay." Remus grinned cheekily.

"Practice a little tonight then. Our next paper is Charms, which is two days away and not too hard either." James remarked.

"We know more Charms than anyone in the whole school." Sirius said.

"But those are the Charms we can't use in the paper." Peter pointed out.

"Flitwick will flip if we put the Collapsing Charm in his paper."

"He can flip any moment if his stepper isn't firm enough."

"I get your point."

"What's the last paper??"

"Div."

"Eeew!!"

"It's easy."

"I can't do well for the exams though."

"'Coz Bell is getting all the grades. _Trelawney's inner eye_ says so."

"Well, at least we know Bell isn't a fraud."

"Do you guys want to get back??"

"Yeah. Getting kinda dark."

"Our dear Jamesie scared of darkness??"

"I'm not."

"You're."

"No!!"

"Oooo."  
  


"Shut up, Sirius."

"I know your little secret."

"What is it??"

"Remember when we were five??"

"What happened??"

"Our little _coward_ Jamesie stepped saw a cockroach and climbed up the sofa to get away from the cockroach."  
  


"James. You-" Sirius, Remus and Peter started laughing.  
  


"Well, I just climbed up the sofa, Sirius wetted his pants though." James remarked.

"I didn't."

"You did."

"I didn't"

"You want proof??"

"What proof??"

"Photos??"

"What photos??"

"Fion took pictures of that incident."

"WHAT??" Sirius looked horrified. This time, it's James, Remus and Peter's turn to laugh.

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_Argh. How come this matchstick isn't transforming to an owl?? _Lily concentrated even harder and tried to transfigure the matchstick before her. The furthest she could get was transfiguring an owl head with a matchstick body some white fur sprouting out here and there. _C'mon. Transfigure please. I don't want to fail Transfig.!!_

_Nice and easy. _James thought to himself. A white owl was standing rather still in front of him, waiting for McGonagall to come and grade his owl, which was actually perfect.

Professor McGonagall walked over and jotted some notes on her parchment, nodded and left James' table. Then she proceeded to Sirius' table, which was in front of him. Sirius had gotten a tiny and gray hopping owl. They were allowed to transfigure any sort of owl they want as long as the owl can fly and eat like a normal owl without any imperfection. Remus had transfigured a large tawny owl out from the small matchstick. It looked a little like his owl, Knight. Even Peter transfigured a school owl look-alike, which looked kind of perfect.

_Finally. I thought I wasn't going to make it. _Lily heaved a sigh of relief as she waited for Professor McGonagall to come by to grade her owl. All three girls had normal school owls look-alike because it was the easiest to transfigure and that was the one they learnt. The guys were more advanced and had more practice and hence were able to use a little more imagination on their owls.

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_Why isn't this quill dancing?? _James was trying hard to remember the exact charm they learnt to control a non-living thing to move by itself. _Argh, and this stupid quill aren't writing on its own._ Each of them was given five quills for them to charm to do five different actions at the same time.

_Ok, this one is going to dance; this is going to write; this is going to sing and what about the last two?? _Lily thought as she tried to think what were the charms they had taught on quills. _Aha, this can draw, and the last one?? What can quills do?? Draw?? Write?? Sing?? Dance?? Eat?? Nah, can't transfigure. Yes!! I've got it!!_

_Drats, the handwriting look so illegible. At least now this is dancing. C'mon quill just draw something. _James thought desperately as he tried to remember more charms on quills that they had learnt in the last few years. _Hmm, can I use accio??_

Professor Flitwick stopped in front of Lily's desk and marveled at her display of action quills. One of the quills singing the song My Valentine while another was writing the lyrics in synchrony. The third quill was drawing a little comic strip of Cinderella and the Prince. The fourth was dancing with the invisible fifth quill. Professor Flitwick looked at the perfect display nodding and jotting down notes for the five quills.

Arabella and Stefanie had no problem with their own display of quills as well because they had practiced on it the day before, but not on five quills at the same time.

James managed to get his quills into action finally. One was dancing solo; another was singing a simple song of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star; the third was drawing shapes on a parchment; another was writing his name repeatedly on the parchment and the last one was floating on air by Wingardium Leviosa, which they had learnt in first year.

Sirius, Remus and Peter had gotten about the same state with James, with slight differences in their actions but generally everyone had used the sing and dance, write and draw. The fifth charm varies with the individual.

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_How on earth am I supposed to give a detail procedure on using a microwave oven?? What a stupid gadget. _James thought about the lesson they had on microwave ovens months ago. He had not even touched the oven since that lesson. _Connect the pluck. Shucks, how to spell plug?? P-l-u-c-k?? I think it's four lettered. Hmm.. P-l-u-t?? Nah. It's not t, it's erm.. G?? Ok, it's P-l-u-g. Then on the electricity. Yucks, how to spell electricity?? Electric current then. Then press the button to open the door._ James tried to remember as he wrote down the steps.

_Fifteen usages of refrigerators. Store raw food, keep drinks cool, make ice cubes, keep veggies, no, not veggies, vegetables fresh. What else?? _Lily thought as she stroked her chin with the quill, trying to remember the functions of fridges.

_Ten places where lights are found. Houses, streets, offices, schools, shopping centers, train stations, bus stops, parks, factories, shops. Aha, ten places._ Remus smiled at himself and turned to the next parchment for the next question. _How to operate a television?? Let me see._

_Connect the plug first. Then on the main power supply. Press the button to on. Use remote control to change channels and adjust volume. What else did I miss out?? T.V. T.V?? _Stefanie thought as she looked out of the window, trying to get some inspiration.

_What on earth is an electric shaver?!? Did we learn that before?? _Sirius looked at the question blankly. He had absolutely zero idea on what an electric shaver was.

_Jeez. Name five differences between a microwave oven and the conventional oven. I don't remember. Oh shucks. One use radiation while the other use heat. Microwave heats food faster then conventional oven. Aluminium foil cannot be used in microwave oven but can be used in conventional oven. It's not possible to bake in the microwave oven but can bake in the conventional oven. Hmm.. What else did I miss?? _Arabella thought as she looked at the question again, trying to remember the ovens they had hands-on months ago.

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_Devil's Snare. Easy peasy. _James grinned at the question and wrote a long paragraph on characteristics of the Devil's Snare.

_Name a powerful restorative and how to make it. _Lily re-read the question and thought about the answer before writing it down. She had studied the notes on the Mandrake the night before and she was just gathering the thoughts.

_Characteristics of a bouncing bulb?? Yeah, besides bouncing huh. _Arabella thought as she wrote down anything and everything about bouncing bulbs.

_Where do people find Flutterby Bush?? Eeps. What sort of questions is these manz?? I don't remember a thing!! _Sirius frowned as he looked through the questions. Not too far away from him, Peter was smiling away as he wrote the answers conscientiously.

_Shucks. What is another name of Mandragora?? What on earth is Mandragora?? _Remus thought as he tried to remember what he had read through. _Mandragora. Mandrago. Mandy. Bleah. Mandrak. Mandrake. Yes. Mandrake is the answer._

_Gillyweed. Water plant. Eater can grow gills and fins for one hour. What else?? _Stefanie thought as she looked at the Gillyweed plant floating in the tank at the front of the greenhouse. 

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_What's the next ingredient after root of asphodel?? _Lily thought as she tried to remember the recipe for the invisibility potion and visibility potion. They were supposed to make the two potions simultaneously in two hours independently. Then the potions would be tested on their pets to make sure it works. _Aconite. Yeah. That's is. Is it turning blue soon??_

_Why is my potion green?!? _James thought frantically. _What did I miss out?? I know I didn't. Bezoar not supposed to be added. _James checked all his potion ingredients that were laid in front of him. _Argh. Thirty more minutes. What did I forget?? C'mon James._

_What's next?? _Sirius looked around the table to find any form of hint on how to make the potion. There were all sorts of items in front of him, but not all of them were used. _What do I add next??_

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"What did you see my child??" Professor Trelawney asked.

"I'll be with James someday and we will have a son name Harry. Arabella will be with Sirius but will not last because they would be separated. Stefanie will go missing in action. Both Arabella and Remus will become Professors in Hogwarts in the future." Lily said confidently. She could not see anything in the crystal ball at all, but well, she had seen the future.

"Very good, you may go now." Professor Trelawney smiled at Lily.

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"Ah, my child, what can you sees in the crystal ball??" Professor Trelawney asked.

"James will top be the top wizard for our year and Lily will be the top witch. Both of them will become good friends and become Head Boy and Head Girl when we are in seventh year. Lily will regain her memory sometime next but it won't affect her much because she had started to fall for James again. She will receive an amazing gift somewhere after her sixteenth birthday. Stefanie and Remus will get together sometime soon but they will not last because the ugly reality will keep them apart but their hearts will unite. Joey and Samantha will set up a restaurant after we graduate and become successful career women. Their other half will not be from Hogwarts. Peter, he will betray us someday. I don't really want to go into the details about it because it's just too horrible to talk about." Arabella went on and on about what she saw in the future. She could not tell if those visions were from the crystal ball or from her mind because they were just so clear.

"It's okay, my dear. That's enough for today." Professor Trelawney smiled in a kind manner.

"Thank you. May I go off now??" Arabella asked politely.

"Yes, please." Professor Trelawney was busy writing some stuff on her parchment. Arabella departed from the classroom and returned to join her friends downstairs.

"You took a long time." Lily said.

"I had quite a lot of visions until I don't know if they're from the crystal ball or my mind." Arabella said quietly.

"It's ok, we're here for you whenever you need a listening ear." Stefanie said and gave Arabella a hug.

"Thanks. Let's head back to the dorm." Arabella said and the three girls left the room. They were the first few to called up because their surnames were one of those earlier.

"Not fair!!" James complained as the girls left. The three girls waved goodbye to the guys and Joey and Samantha.

"You can go off first, you know." Remus told Sirius jokingly.

"What for?? When I'll be alone. I might as well as stay here with you guys."

"James, it's all because of you!!"

"What?? I can't control my surname to start with P."

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"Tell me what did you see??" Professor Trelawney asked.

"Sirius and Remus will fight tonight; Lily will lose something precious and regain her memory; Peter will not be found anywhere during the summer break; Arabella and Stefanie will quarrel over a guy sometime this month." James said as he tried to see something besides the white mist in the crystal ball. He had imagined out all the premonitions. Arabella had refused to disclose any predictions of hers no matter how much the guys begged for them.

"Very well, you may go now." Professor Trelawney said as she wrote some stuff in a parchment. James shrugged and left the room

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"Finally they're over!!" Lily jumped in joy in the girls' dormitory.

"Yeah manz!!" Stefanie said happily.

"We gotta do something together again." Arabella suggested.

"Another night of makeover??" Joey asked.

"We better make sure our drinks are not drugged for that night." Samantha said. The girls giggled. A year ago, they had wanted to makeover again on their last day of school, but unfortunately all of them were animals for that night and hence, not able to do anything at all.

"We must not touch anything those guys touch."

"How can we avoid??"

"I've an idea, but I don't know if it's feasible or not."

"What is it??"

"On the day before, we can get some food from the kitchens to last us throughout the day. Because the food in the kitchens is unlikely to be drugged if the house-elves are there."

"You know where the kitchens are??"

"Sort of. Been there only for a couple of times."

"Sounds so cool."

"Can take us there??"

"We must keep it a secret though. Because they can't let the whole school population know where it is. We stumbled upon it by accident actually."

"We promise."

"Keep everything we say in this room ok??"

"Pinkie promise huh??"

"Why not??" The five girls put their pinkie together and did a girlie scream.

"Ok. So on next Friday morning we shall go and get some food."

"Then we shall just eat here."

"Then that night we stay awake??"

"So let's sleep in the day instead."

"Soundproof and lock the room so no one else can come and disturb us."

"We gotta seal the windows as well. People can _fly_ in if they really want." There were times when the Marauders had come over to the girls' dormitory via the windows.

"So that settles the night event."

"I can't wait for that day."

"Neither can I."

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"Any bright ideas for end-of-year prank??" James asked. The four guys were hanging out together at Hogsmeade. It was not a Hogsmeade weekend but since they had their means of coming, so they were there.

"We need something special." Sirius suggested.

"Isn't all our pranks special enough??"

"Last year we turned them to animals."

"The year before was operation anti-gravity."

"Then before that was water guns."

"And in the first year we didn't do anything."

"This time we need something really outstanding."

"All our pranks are outstanding."

"Well, it had to get better and better after each year."

"I've got an idea. But it needs improvement and quite a lot of research." James suggested. He always come up with complicated pranks while Sirius come up with the normal regular ones. Remus always perfected the plans while Peter often used to diverge the attention temporary.


	56. Oh My God!

**Chapter 55: Oh. My. God.**

"I got seven O.W.L.s!!" James boasted.

"I've got six." Sirius said. "I can't believe I didn't get it for C.O.M.C." Sirius did not score well for Care of Magical Creatures because it was a three-month long project. Each individual had to take care of a magical creature of his or her choice. Sirius had chosen the Blast-Ended Skrewt, which he thought was the easiest to take care because of its nature. But the health of the Blast-Ended Skrewt had been deteriorating since it had come under the hands of Sirius.

"I've got six as well." Remus said. "I didn't get it for Potions. Porky must have hated me a lot."

"Well, he finds every possible ways to deduct our points." James pointed out.

"It isn't that bad, right??" Sirius said.

"Mine is the worst, I only have five O.W.L.s." Peter said quietly.

"Don't worry, Pete. You got it for Transfig., Charms, Herby, Divination and C.O.M.C.." James comforted.

"I guess it's ok. I only kinda expected to get three initially." Peter said quietly.

"Well, don't think so lowly of yourself. You're doing really great!! Top in Herbology once again." Remus said kindly.

"Thanks guys." Peter said and looked at his result slip. _It's because of them that is why I achieved what I get today. How could I do something so bad and mean to them??_

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"Wow!! Both of you got seven O.W.L.s!!" Arabella said enviously.

"You aren't that bad with six O.W.L.s either." Lily said humbly.

"I'm hating Potions more and more by the day." Arabella said crossly.

"Porky is like that. Don't mind him." Stefanie comforted.

"I've got six O.W.L.s as well." Joey added. "I didn't get it for Transfig."

"I think this is worth a celebrating actually. It's difficult to get above five O.W.L.s." Lily said nicely. Arabella was still looking rather crossly at her result slip.

"I agree. Well, don't think about it. Don't forget our _party _this Friday." Samantha added.

"Yeah right. I'm really looking forward." Lily said enthusiastically.

"It's such a sunny Monday. Let's get outdoors." Arabella suggested, putting her result slip on her table.

"That's the spirit, girl." Stefanie said supportively. The five girls left their dormitory after putting their results slip aside.

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"Wear the protection now." James instructed and covered himself with a piece of beige colored cloth, which have a rather waterproof feature. "Cover every nook and cranny of the skin." He then muttered a charm to make the cloth stick onto his skin like a second layer of skin, making holes for his eyes, nostril and mouth.

"I'm starting to perspire already." Sirius commented, he could feel his droplets of perspire beneath the cloth.

"Let's wear our oldest shirt and boxers." Remus said, digging for an old set of clothes. The four guys put on their rag-like clothings.

"I looked like a beggar. What would people think when they see me wearing this??" Sirius complained and looked at himself in the mirror.

"We're going to be _invisible_." James said and rolled his eyes. He wore an old white shirt, which he had always worn to sleep whenever the weather was cold.

"Here's the potion." Remus took out two vials. "Drink with five minutes interval. The visibility one first" Remus held out the white vial.

"Let's do a final run-through." James said. "We must make sure none of the Professors will ever come in contact with this." James pointed at the four one-liter bottles of glistening green liquid at the entrance of the dormitory.

"Sir and I will go and deal with the Slytherins first, then the Ravenclaws." James nodded to Sirius. "Then Rem and Pete will go to the Hufflepuffs and then come back to deal with the Gryffindors." Remus and Peter nodded together. "Don't forget to leave some lying around the steps and common room as you leave. Handles and whatever you think someone is likely to touch that morning. After which we shall gather here. I think two hours should be enough for us to do the job. Latest we meet here at four."

"So everyone geared up??" Sirius asked the three.

"This is going to be the most exciting prank of the century." James agreed.

"Last year prank was supposed to be the prank of the century. But I think this is better." Peter praised.

"Definitely. We're the legendary Marauders."

"Don't forget the spray." Remus reminded. Each of them took a small bottle of whitish liquid.

"Confident about this??" James asked the three Marauders.

"Definitely." The three guys chorused.

Remus poured an even amount of the white liquid into four goblets.

"Cheers." The four goblets were raised high above them and 'clinged'.

"Even after so many times of drinking this, I still have the weird sensation after drinking." James commented as he rubbed his stomach.

"Let's wait for a few minutes then we drink this." Remus said and he poured out the light blue liquid into four even portions.

"Cheers again." The same thing happened to the four goblets.

"Time to start now." James instructed as he checked himself in front of the mirror. "Five hours before this invisibility potion wear off." There was no reflection of him in the mirror.

"Five dungbombs with me. Should be enough to shoo everyone up. Lock our dorm with a charm, just in case." James said. Remus, who was the last to leave, charmed the door to make it impossible for anyone else to open because it was password protected.

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"Packed most of the stuffs already??" Lily asked her roommates she stuffs the unnecessary things into her trunks.

"Yeah. Left the makeup, some clothes, underwear and toiletries only." Arabella said.

"We seem to have more stuffs the older we get." Stefanie commented, filling up her second suitcase. Stefanie usually brought one large trunk when school starts, then she would go home for Christmas empty handed and returned with another trunk.

"I think it's because we need more stuffs now as compared to when we were eleven." Joey said, checking the cupboard and drawers for any left out items.

"Just look at our bathroom. There's like not enough space until we need to magic out a shelf so we can put our other necessities." Samantha said, trying to rearrange her stuff so that it required lesser space although she had already enlarged the inside of her trunk magically.

"Well, five shavers of all sorts in the bathroom. Not to mention other shaving stuff." Lily joked, dividing the toiletries to the respective owners.

"You know one thing I'm going to miss most after we graduate is being roommates together." Joey said suddenly.

"I know. We always have so much fun together." Lily agreed wholeheartedly.

"We can have gatherings now and then. How about we fix a date?? Every year we must meet up at least once??" Stefanie suggested.

"It's a great idea. Then we can keep in touch via owl post." Arabella added excitedly.

"Shall we stay up slightly later tonight just for another slumber night??" Joey asked.

"I'm ok."

"Me too."

"Sure."

"Why not??"

"We're going to spend the whole day sleeping anyway since we're staying up to makeover tomorrow night."

"I've got some food from the kitchens after dinner." Lily said. "Should be enough to last us until five."

"I think more likely can last _you_ until five. We seldom eat supper except you." Stefanie teased.

"Don't anyone get hungry at night??" Lily asked.

"No." The four girls chorused.

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"Pure blood." James said to the portrait. They slipped into the Slytherin common room quietly. Some people were in the common room and they skipped them and headed up to the sleeping dormitories together.

"Guys." James mouthed to Sirius. He nodded and they walked across the common room silently, avoiding the people.

They went into the first-year dormitory first. The five first-year Slytherins were sleeping soundly in bed. The two guys went towards the bed and dropped a few drops of the liquid onto the sleeping boys. They nodded at each other upon completion and left the dormitory.

James pointed upwards. The two guys went up the spiral staircase and ended up at the second-year dormitory. They repeated the same procedures from first to fourth year.

"Higher dosage." Sirius mouthed to James and he nodded in understanding.

"Did I hear the door opening??" Severus asked his three other roommates.

"It's probably the hinges." Lucius said nonchalantly as he continued to comb his hair.

James took out the spray bottle from his pocket, so did Sirius. They walked in front of the four boys and sprayed several times in front of each of them directly on their faces. The four guys barely had time to respond and dropped backwards and started snoring.

Sirius made a face at James and they grinned. They dropped several generous droplets of the potions onto each of the four guys. They tried to hold back their laughter and left the room quickly.

They went up the stairs and went to the sixth and seventh years, doing the same things to them since they were all awake. Along the way was a fourth year coming up the stairs, they sprayed straight on his face, drop a few droplets and left him on the stairs, sleeping soundly and snoring a little.

They went down the steps and found some students still lingering around the common room. They proceeded on to spray them and made them looked like they were sleeping in the common room. They left and went towards the girls' dormitories.

They repeated the procedures on all the Slytherin girls with the similar dosage. After about one hour, they covered every Slytherin in their dormitories and continued with those in the common room. After which they left some droplets everywhere lying around the entire common room.

They sneaked out of the Slytherin tower and turned over to Ravenclaw common room.

"Apple strudel." James said the password because Sirius could not stopped laughing at the password. It was suggested by a seventh-year prefect, which originated from a joke to the password of their tower.

Since it was around two something when they reached Ravenclaw tower, most of the students were already sound asleep. Hence, their work was completed faster then expected. After sprinkling those droplets everywhere around the common room, they left the tower and ran back to Gryffindor tower as soon as possible.

"Expelliarmus." James said and both guys walked into the tower and headed straight up to their dormitory. Andrew thought that it was better to use important Charms as the password because it could help everyone to remember them.

"Hey guys." James greeted Remus and Peter who were in their dormitory having a game of Wizard Chess.

"How was it??" Remus asked, looking up at James and Sirius while Peter was having his turn.

"Everything went smoothly." Sirius claimed as both guys removed their old clothes and stripped their protection coat and threw it at the corner along with the bottles of potions. Then they muttered the spell, which was used to throw their stuffs to the 'rubbish chute' of Hogwarts. Then they muttered a cleaning spell to remove any traces of potion.

"Tomorrow is going to be an exciting day." James said and went into the bathroom for a quick shower.

"How is it with the Gryffindors??" Sirius asked curiously.

"We managed to do it on everyone except those fifth-years." Peter said.

"Why not??" James asked, coming out of the bathroom still wrapped in his towel while Sirius went in.

"They locked their room with some charm that none of the door-unlocking spell work. We tried many times. The last time was only a few minutes before you guys returned. No avail." Remus explained.

"How about the windows??" James asked.

"No use either. We checked every mean of opening into the fifth-year girls dormitory. It just doesn't work." Remus said.

"Did they know we were up to something??" James asked.

"I don't think so. Maybe they're up to something themselves." Remus said.

"Maybe they're just doing their girlie stuffs inside. Anyway we covered the entire student population." James said.

"We better head to the kitchens and get some food to last for the entire day." Sirius suggested coming out from the bathroom.

"It's four in the morning!!" Remus exclaimed. "Are you sure there is any food??"

"Good point. Let's do it during the breakfast hour so we can avoid the crowd." James said.

"I just wonder if they still have the appetite to eat after seeing themselves in the mirror." Sirius said grinning.

"Sirius, I don't doubt that one." Remus agreed.

"So when can we get food??" Peter inquired.

"Tomorrow morning before breakfast. Two of us can go and get food for all of us which can last the entire day." James said.

"I'm not going." Sirius said and jumped onto his bed.

"I need to sleep." Peter said.

"Alright then, Rem, wake me up later. Then we go down to the kitchens at about seven." James said and went to bed.

"Leave the game alone and get some sleep." Remus told Peter. They left their half-played game for their much needed beauty rest.

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"AAAHHHH!!"

"HEELLLPPPP!!"  
  


"OOOHHHH NOO!!"

"OOOHHHH MMMEEERRLLLLIINN!!"

"WWWHHAT THE HELLLL??"

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"Gracie!! Look at me!! Something is wrong!!" Gracie looked at her roommates and then looked at herself and screamed.

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"What on earth happened to my gorgeous body?!?" Gilderoy looked in the mirror in horror. The rest of the boys in his dormitory were all looking utterly shocked at themselves as well.

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"Wake up!! Something's wrong!!" Jun shouted at her roommates. They stirred in their sleep but no one woke up. She looked at herself in the mirror and screamed. This time, her roommates woke up.

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"Andrew. This can't be happening!!" Kenneth asked his best friend in their dormitory.

"I don't know. But I'm sure we're not dreaming." Andrew replied his roommate in an equally shocked tone.

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"Loucelle. My-my-my.. are missing!!" Loucelle's roommate shrieked.

"So are mine!!" Loucelle screamed and touched herself. "And I've a-a.." Then the girls in the whole dormitory screamed.

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"What's the noise??" Remus stirred in his sleep and sat up. They had soundproofed their dormitory and sealed all means of entrance from outside. _Why are people screaming at such hours in the morning?? _Remus thought dreamily and cast a charm to keep outside noises out of their dormitory. The four boys were sleeping so soundly that their breakfast was forgotten.

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"Something is wrong outside." Arabella thought and sat upright in shock.

"I hear screams." Samantha was sitting upright as well, though still looking a little sleepy.

"I wonder what happened." Joey stirred and muttered sleepily. She sat up too.

"Did something happen??" Stefanie asked the three awaken girls.

"How can Lily sleep with all these deafening screams??" Joey said in amazement.

"That's the benefit of being a sound sleeper." Stefanie said as she got out from the bed.

"Let's wake her up." Samantha suggested and headed towards Lily's bed.

"LILY!!" Arabella shouted.

"W-what??" Lily muttered sleepily and turned over.

"WAKE UP!!" Stefanie shouted.

"It's too early." Lily said and covered her head with a pillow.

"SOMETHING IS WRONG!!" Joey shouted and snatched Lily's pillow away.

"What's wrong?? Settle later." Lily muttered and pulled the comforters over her head.

"THIS IS IMPORTANT!!" Samantha shouted as she started tugging Lily's hand.

"Get off me. Five more minutes." Lily muttered and pulled back her hand and hid under the comforters.

"Let's pull her out." Arabella suggested. The four girls nodded and jumped onto Lily's bed and lifted her up and swung.

"AAHHH!! I'm awake!!" Lily surrendered finally and sat upright, still hugging her pillow, eyelids closed.

"Can you hear??" Stefanie asked. The screams did not subside; instead, more screams were heard.

"People cheering." Lily muttered. "Let me sleep." She dropped backwards onto the bed again.

"Something happened. People are screaming!!" Arabella said urgently.

"Huh?? What happened??" Lily asked more awake than before.

"We don't know." Samantha said.

"Let's check it out??" Arabella suggested.

"Let's get change and then we go and check out what's happening." Stefanie said and with Joey, they pulled Lily off the bed.

"Okie okie. I'm up. Skip the violence." Lily held up her hands and walked towards the bathroom.

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"You too??"

"What happened??"

"I don't know. It happened overnight."

"I don't like this feeling."

"Neither do I."

"Hey girls, what happened??" Lily asked some sixth-years and seventh-years.

"We _changed _sex overnight!!" Loucelle said in a rather panic tone. Her voice was distinctly lower in pitch which soundly a little manly

"WHAT??" The five fifth-years chorused.

"What happened??" Lily asked, observing that the girls were now apparently breasts-less.

"I don't know. I woke up with a _penis_ and _two balls_!!" Penelope said, looking almost tearful. She had rather marcho looking features now. Her hourglass figure now looked like a V. Her delicate features looked a little manly with the slight unshaven look.

"Isn't it worst when you wake up and realize that you become penis-less and ball-less and ended with two boobs??" Andrew walked over to join the discussion. Everyone stared at his chest beneath the white v-neck tee he was wearing. His original chest muscle had become two B-cup breasts, which looked unsupported.

It would have been a good joke if not for the fact that every other guy in the common room had breasts instead of chest muscles or fats.

"Do you think my breasts look better or Andrew's one look better??" Kenneth came over and showed his uncovered A-Cup breasts. The girls looked in amusement at the way the rest of the guys were comparing their boobs.

"Do you think I can borrow a bra or something??" Daniel Thomas asked. His newly formed boobs seem to be weighing him down even though it was merely B-cup sized. The group laughed at his little joke as well.

"I wonder how do you guys survive with something stuck between your legs." Lily asked the guys. She noticed the other girls were sitting in the rather odd manner.

"How come the five of you look so normal??" Loucelle asked the five girls.

"We don't know either." Arabella replied.

The fifth-, sixth- and seventh-year Gryffindors were gathered together in the middle of the Gryffindor common room while the first- to fourth-years be scattered around. It was a rather rare scene to catch most of the seniors sitting together in Gryffindor common room before breakfast on a Friday morning.

"Where are the Marauders??" Andrew asked the group.

"They're probably hiding in their dorm." Lily joked.

"What's this greenish thing??" Stefanie asked the rest as she noticed some greenish liquid scattered around the floor and table and chairs.

"Don't touch!!" Arabella called out.

"It could be the potion that causes the sex change." Samantha said.

"Is this permanent??" Joey asked.

"What I know about the Sex-changing potion is that it's temporary. Only last for one day at most. It transform you to the other sex and you'll get to see how you look like when you're in the other sex." Andrew explained.

"You guys learnt that??" Lily asked.

"Nope. I read that somewhere. Quite a complicated potion. I'm surprised that any student here can actually managed to make it. It takes about a week for the whole process and the ingredients needed are rare and expensive." Andrew explained to the rest of the students. Some of the lower-year students were listening to their conversation as well.

"It must one of the Marauder's plans." Arabella concluded.

"I don't doubt that. They're capable of such stuffs." Stefanie added.

"I wonder how was the reaction to the people from the other houses??" Lily remarked.

The large group of twenty over students dispersed from the center of the Gryffindor common room and headed towards their respective destination.

"Let's go back to our dorm." Lily told her four roommates and they excused themselves until they reached the dormitory, being careful not to touch anything around.

"I believe they did something on the railings too." Stefanie said and eyed the glistening greenish handrail.

The five girls returned to their dormitory and they checked their bodies to make sure that they were still hundred percent females before doing anything else.

"I'm fine."

"So am I."

"Bell, luckily you suggested us to seal our dormitory."

"Otherwise we would end up like the rest."

"Let's stay in here for the day. I think the guys had contaminated the entire school with the potion."

"Lils and I can go and get some food for all of us to last us through the day."

"Thanks. I don't think I wanna feel like a guy."

"It would be weird without breasts."

"It would be even weirder with penis and balls."

"Hey Bell, let's go get some food. Most of them should have gone for breakfast by now."

"Be careful."

"Don't worry. We're going invisible." Lily said and muttered the charm to make themselves invisible. They held each other hand to avoid getting lost in the crowd. Both girls left their dormitory and the Gryffindor tower and headed towards the kitchen as record speed.

Lily tickled the pear and both of them went into the kitchen. Lily muttered the visibility charm and both girls reappeared.

"Hi Scooby, we need some food to last five girls though the entire day." Lily said, panting slightly.

"Right ahead, Miss Lily and Miss Arabella."

"By the way can you keep our appearance here today a secret?? We don't want the guys to know we come down today." Arabella told Scooby.

"Sure." Scooby bowed.

"Thanks Scooby." Lily and Arabella said together.

"Ten house-elves returned with ten big bags of all sorts of food which they did not bother to open to check what they were. Lily muttered a reducing charm and the ten bags became finger-sized. Each girl took five packets and kept them in their pockets.

"Thanks you everyone!!" Lily and Arabella called out. "Thanks Scooby. See you around." Lily said and she took Arabella's hand. She muttered the invisibility charm and they left the kitchens and hurried back to their dormitory. They reached the Gryffindor tower within five minutes.

Lily and Arabella muttered a charm to open their door, and then they sealed it with a few charms again. It was needed mainly to prevent the Marauders from entering. Lily then muttered the visibility charm and both girl reappeared.

The girls took out the ten packs of stuffs from their pockets. Lily muttered a charm and the bags returned to it original size once again.

"Wow!! Chicken and Mushroom omelets for breakfast!!" Lily took out a small box from a plastic bag labeled breakfast and passed the bag around.

"We're going to have a great time indoors today." Arabella said grinning. The nine packs of food standing still in the center of the five girls.

"We gotta pop out sometime in the afternoon to see what's going on. It would be the first year-end prank that we escape." Stefanie commented, enjoying her omelet.

"Let's finish our breakfast so we can continue to sleep." Lily remarked.

"Sleepyhead, we should do something more worthwhile than sleeping." Samantha said.

"It's nine in the morning!! Do you know how unearthly this hour is?!?" Lily said grinning.


	57. Happenings

**Chapter 56: Happenings**

"How do you think the people are coping with the sex change??" James asked the three Marauders. The guys had just woken up and were lazing around in their dormitory.

"Should be great. We missed the exciting show in the morning." Sirius said, still yawning and looking sleepy.

"Well, so much for going for breakfast before the rest." Remus remarked.

"Yeah, we're going for breakfast while the rest are going for lunch."

"Let's wash up. And get out to see the _changed _people."

"Do you think the girls managed to come into contact with those stuffs in the common room??"

"I don't know. We can go check it out."

"I wonder if anyone noticed that we put some around the common room."

"No idea. The only way we can tell is that we go and check it out."

"Sirius!! Get your butt off the toilet bowl!! We need to use the bathroom!!"

"I'm shitting!!"

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"Lucius, Maybe you should try to straighten yourself??" Severus suggested in his newfound high-pitched voice. Lucius and his cronies were heading towards the Great Hall for lunch from Slytherin tower. They were having some trouble to adjust with their out of proportion bodies.

"You keep your mouth shut. Aren't you slouching as well??" Lucius snapped in a very effeminate manner.

"I was just suggesting. Your F-cup boobs and your twenty four inches waistline aren't exactly very proportionate." Severus said sarcastically.

"Your E-cup is weighing you down as well. And by the way you look horrible with rosy cheeks." Lucius commented. Severus pale white face appeared rather pinkish and rosy as if he had applied blusher.

"At least my chest isn't as heavy as yours. You've got the biggest boobs in school, not to mention the saggiest." Severus commented.

"Well, I don't have cheeks like a monkey's butt." Lucius said dryly.

"You've the most out of proportion body here. Everyone is staring at your boobs as if it was mutated." Severus commented. Lucius' F-cup breasts were sagging all the way down his shirt. He had worn his biggest and most baggy top but his sagging breasts were extraordinarily obvious.

"Not that yours have any more support than mine." Lucius remarked, trying to conceal his sagging breasts and not walking too quickly to make the saggy spot too obvious.

"Mine isn't as heavy, you see." Severus said, holding his boobs in his hands. In fact most of the guys were not used to having boobs that they were holding it with their hands to prevent it from bouncing as they walked.

"Vaness, Gordon, are you two dumb or something?? Kept quiet the whole time." Lucius changed the topic since he was obviously on the losing end with Severus.

"I'm having a little trouble here." Gordon replied dryly. He was holding his E-cup breasts in his hands so that it would not bounce so much as they walked. And his waistline had become a narrow twenty-six inches, which is more than ten inches smaller than usual. He had to shrink his pants so that they would not drop the moment he walked.

"Vaness??" Severus asked.

"These boobs are so heavy that I can barely walk already. I'm not even going to dream about them in the future." Gordon said, looking at his front chest and holding it.

"You mean you actually dreamt about having boobs this huge??" Lucius asked in shocked.

"Not exactly. But now I know the girls are suffering with these two burdens." Gordon commented.

"I wonder how Narcissa deal with her two burdens." Severus said, holding his breasts as he walked so he would not slouch so much.

"They're huge. Look at her cleavage." Lucius commented.

"Yeah, not today definitely." Severus said dryly. Narcissa was sitting walking in front of them with her friends. She had a really V figure for a guy, broad shoulders and small butt. Her legs looked extremely hairy in hot shorts and her body looked very developed for a guy in the body fitting white tee.

"Hi guys." Narcissa turned around and greeted them in a deep and manly voice that made the four guys jumped backwards in shock.

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"I feel strange." Jun commented as the group of girls was walking towards the Great Hall for lunch.

"So do I. But I think the Slytherins are having a worse time than us." Eva Andrews commented, noticing the group of Slytherins who were walking some distance away from them.

"It's strange having something in between the legs." Mabel Brocklehurst commented.

"Everyone is feeling really strange. Look at the Hufflepuffs over there." Pepper Deng added, eyeing the Hufflepuffs some distance away.

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"Can you stop fidgeting??" Amos Diggory told his companions in his high-pitched voice. The three guys were heading towards the Great Hall for their lunch. They had skipped breakfast because they were too shocked to leave their dormitory.

"I can't help it." Ludo Bagman said dryly, sounding like a woman.

"Just hold it like me and it should be ok." Barty Crouch commented and practically acted like a woman.

"Excuse me?? Holding your chest as you walk don't appear very normal or ok to me."

"Men having boobs aren't normal to start with."

"It's a good experience actually."

"Are you out of your mind?!?"

"Girls can touch their boobs all day, anytime they want, unlike us."

"I don't think you want to touch your chest the entire day, do you??"

"I don't feel like now although I feel like doing so when I'm hundred percent man."

"You're still a man for goodness sake."

"For goodness sake, when do any man have breasts this size and penis-less??"

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"How was the situation outside??" Arabella asked Lily and Samantha. Both girls had gone to the corridors to check out the situation because it was just too funny not to watch.

"We met Malfoy and his cronies and Narcissa and we had a good laugh just now." Lily said laughing away. Both of them had charmed themselves invisible and went out to watch how is everyone reacting towards the sex change. They told the rest of their roommates the details of how the Slytherins were acting.

"They're in a bad shape, aren't they??"

"The girls were walking around rather strangely though."

"I'm not surprised actually."

"But Narcissa really look like a himbo now."

"She was a bimbo to start with."

"The other girls were generally rather normal and the Great Hall was quieter than usual."

"The Hufflepuffs were rather noisy for once. They were practically discussing about breast sizes and penis length over lunch."

"Doesn't sound appetizing."

"Well, they were eating and conversing at the same time."

"The Ravenclaws were the most silence. We eavesdropped a couple of people's conversation actually." Lily grinned mischievously. The two girls then went on to tell the rest of the girls what they had heard along their way.

"By the way we cleaned up the common room." Samantha told them.

"Confirmed free from sex-change potion because the railings are of normal colour now."

"I think we can go down for the feast tonight then."

"Leave that five bags of food for supper tonight."

"Eating supper is so fattening!!"

"That's out of point."

"Time for a nap if we want to stay up for makeover tonight." Arabella said. The five girls climbed back into their beds and they charmed the dormitory to a more conducive environment for sleeping.

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"I can't believe you guys did something like that!!" Lily exclaimed. It was the year-end Hogwarts feast and Dumbledore had just finished his announcements. Dumbledore had minus off five points off from each Marauder for their sex-change prank. Thankfully Gryffindor was leading by a hundred points, and hence, won the house cup fifth year in a row.

"Wasn't that a great prank??" James replied, digging onto the heaps of food in front of them. The feast had just begun.

"It was brilliant, right?? We're practically geniuses." Sirius boasted and Arabella hit him playfully on his head.

"Don't be too proud of yourself. If Dumbledore minus any more points, we would not win the house cup." Arabella said, taking food off Sirius' plate just for fun. They always fight for similar type of food and bickered now and then for no reason.

"What's that for?? I didn't annoy you." Sirius hit Arabella's head playfully.

"Don't play already. I want to eat." Arabella replied and continued eating off whatever left on Sirius' plate.

"Can't you just eat from your own plate??" Sirius pulled his plate aside, away from Arabella's reach.

"_Lovebirds_ love eating off from each other plates." Lily teased.

"We're not _lovebirds_!!" Arabella and Sirius practically shouted out.

"Don't _lovebirds _have the same frequency??" James said teasingly.

"We're not _lovebirds_." Sirius replied and started digging his food and not bothering with Arabella. She ate her food from her own plate and not bothering Sirius as well.

"Look at that two _lovebirds_." Arabella said, looking up at Stefanie and Remus who were talking animatedly beside her.

"Hey, hey, hey, don't try changing the topic." Remus replied cleverly.

"Yeah, the two of you should get together soon." James teased.

"NO WAY!!" Arabella and Sirius said simultaneously. All the other fifth-year Gryffindors laughed at the two of them.

"You two look compatible together." Samantha said jokingly which earned a glare from Arabella.

"I think both of you would look cute together." Joey added good-naturedly. By now, Sirius and Arabella were blushing away.

"Yeah man. Sirius, are you a man??" Lily joked.

"Of course I'm a man." Sirius boasted. "I'm none other than Sirius, the man." The rest of them gave the pretended disgusted look at how egoistic that statement sounded.

"Who agree that Arabella and Sirius would look great together raise their hand??" James said to the group. Lily, Stefanie, Remus, Peter, Samantha, Joey and himself raised their hand.

"See, we're all hoping you two will get together soon." Lily agreed.

"Well, unless James and Lily kiss." Sirius replied ingeniously.

"Hey, why am I involved??" Lily waved her hands in disagreement. "No way."

"Who agree that James and Lily should get together??" Arabella said enthusiastically.

"No, no, no!!" Lily defended herself.

"James wants that, doesn't he??" Remus teased.

"No, he doesn't." Lily said defensively. Lily and James were now blushing away, staring down and eating their food and keeping quiet.

"Why not let Remus and Stefanie kiss instead?? They're the only lovebirds around actually." James said, diverting the attention away to the next couple.

"Don't change topic, Jamesie." Remus defended.

"We're now talking about you and Lily." Stefanie added.

"Stef!! You're supposed to be on my side." Lily cried out.

"I'm not taking sides." Stefanie grinned cheekily.

"James and Lily!! James and Lily!! James and Lily!!" Sirius started cheering. The rest of the group cheered along, adding more stress to the two of blushing fifteen-year-olds.

"That's very helpful, Sirius." James glared at his best friend.

"Why don't you kiss her and get over with it??" Sirius grinned at James in his typical pretended innocent face.

"Yeah, if you kiss Arabella and Remus kiss Stefanie, I would kiss Lily." Lily stared at James in shock.

"You said it." Sirius said. He took Arabella face in his hand and gave her a peck on her lips. Arabella was totally stunned and shocked at the gesture.

"What was that for??" Arabella asked, still rather shocked.

"Don't you want to see James and Lily K-I-S-S-I-N-G??" Sirius asked cheekily.

"Yeah." Arabella replied nonchalantly and looked at Lily expectantly.

"Oh no." Lily muttered beneath her breath. _I don't want to kiss James!! Not in a million years!! This is going to be so awkward._

"Remus, your turn." Sirius said.

"Stef, May I??" Remus stood up and asked Stefanie.

"Ok." Stefanie blushed a little and stood up. Remus held Stefanie's face and gave her a soft kiss on her lips. Both of them flushed a little but regained their composure soon enough.

"Your turn, Jamesie." Sirius said cheekily.

"Ok." James said and took Lily's face and gave her a peck on her lips. Lily was stunned and got into a dazed at what had just taken place.

"That was fast." Remus grinned.

"Sirius was that fast as well." James retorted.

"I don't wanna try that again. No thank you." Lily said defensively.

"Let's continue with our feast. We've wasted enough time." Stefanie said, saving the embarrassment for Lily and Arabella. Both girls looked at her in a sort of grateful manner and turned back to their food. Stefanie exchanged a look with Samantha and Joey and grinned.

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"How was your kiss??" Sirius asked James. The four guys were back in their dormitory after the feast. James and Lily had not spoken a word to each other directly ever since the kiss.

"Fine." James said nonchalantly. _It was exhilarating._

"Are you sure??" Remus teased.

"I think James like Lily." Peter said truthfully.

"Same sentiments exactly." Sirius agreed.

"What about you kissing Arabella??" James retorted. "And your kiss with Stefanie??"

"My kiss with Arabella is nothing. I don't like her and she don't like me." Sirius said. _I really don't like Arabella in that manner. At least she played along._

"I do like Stefanie though." Remus admitted.

"I can tell." James said simply.

"You like my sister??" Sirius asked. "Since when??"

"Since always." Remus answered.

"Well, why don't you two get together or something??" James asked.

"I'm a werewolf. And Stef is like an angel on earth. I-I don't know how." Remus said, looking at the ground.

"What you mean by she's an _angel_ on earth?? She's a _devil_ here!!" Sirius exclaimed.

"That's really a matter of opinion." James said laughing away.

"Stef's an angel!!"

"She's devil!!"

"Angel!!"

"Devil!!"

"Angel!!"

"Devil!!"

"Shut up, both of you!!" James broke the mini argument between the two guys. The two guys stopped their little debate and sat down on their respective beds.

"WHAT??" Sirius and Remus asked James together.

"Er.. It's time for bed." James grinned sheepishly.

"Yeah. And it's only ten!!" Sirius said dryly.

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"What style should we adopt this time??" Lily asked her roommates. The five girls were flipping through the many issues of Witches Weekly that Mrs. Black had owled them in the whole school year.

"Let's have beach wear??" Arabella suggested.

"I don't have any beachwear with me." Joey said.

"We can conjure them up." Samantha grinned cheekily.

"Definitely." Stefanie agreed.

"Let's find the two piece that we like." Lily said, flipping through the latest issue of Witches Weekly with Joey.

"I don't think Dumbledore will be pleased with us wearing just two piece suit for breakfast in the Great Hall." Stefanie remarked.

"That's why we need sundresses, halter-necks and skirts as well." Arabella said without looking up from the magazine.

There was a pile of magazines in the center of the group. They were flipping one after another.

"Are we going to transfigure them or use charms??"

"Transfigure the magazine to the swimsuit."

"This is going to be tough."

"Sam is the best as Transfig.."

"Then no problem with that."

"I think I found the two piece that I like."

"I like this dress."

"This skirt looks good."

"I like this top."

"Let's start the transfiguring." The five girls grabbed the unused magazines and started transfiguring, with the picture of the clothes they wanted beside them.

"Got it!!" Samantha said after ten minutes of transfiguration.

"I need some help. I got the top and bottoms but not the slippers or the bikini." Lily asked Samantha and she helped her with the transfiguring.

After about an hour or so of transfiguration, the girls' dormitory was filled with clothes for beachwear, and all the matching accessories.

"It's going to be so fun!!"

"I can't help but agree with you totally."

"Let's get changed."

The five girls turned away from one another and stripped naked and put on their newly transfigured two-piece beach wear.

"Wow!!"

"All of you look great!!"

"Haha, we kinda look hot."

"We should really go to the beach together someday."

"We need to apply the artificial tan now."

"All over our body."

"And our face too."

Stefanie took out two bottles of muggle artificial tan lotion and they were applying it evenly on themselves. The girls helped one another to apply the lotion on their backs.

"We really look like beach girls now!!"

"I can't wait to see our completed look."

"How would others react to our looks??"

"Stunned by our beauty??"

The girls were laughing and giggling in their girls' talk while applying the artificial tan lotion. Then they stood and waited for the lotion to be absorbed into their skin. The lotion had slight moisturizing effect as well.

"Let's put on our clothes."

"Aren't we already wearing clothes??"

"Well, that is, if you wanna walk to the Great Hall for breakfast looking like that."

"No thanks. Too much attention already."

"Aren't we already getting attention from dressing like that??"

They put on their conjured beachwear slowly and admired their appearance in the full-length mirror.

"You girls look gorgeous!!" The mirror told them.

"Thanks!!" They chorused and giggled among themselves again. Girls always giggle now and then.

"Let me get started with the hair." Arabella said and she started styling their hair individually. "Let braids be the style??"

"Sure."

"Can I have the French braid??"

"I want many small braids."

"I want a few random braids."

Arabella said a charm to straighten all their wavy hair first before starting to style them. She tied a simple French braid for Joey leaving several tendrils of hair to frame her pretty face and did two French braids for Stefanie to complete her angelic but yet outrageously sexy look. Then she tied fifteen random braids on Lily's straight and red hair and secured them with small colored rubber bands. She did Samantha's hair magically because to braid up all the hair was too time-consuming. Then for herself she pulled the hair above her ears and tied a simple braid all the way down, leaving the rest of her hair straight and untouched.

Next Stefanie did all their make-up almost magically. She lightly dotted on Glow and Enhancer on the cheeks and chin areas to illuminate the skin. Then she applied an almost nude blush for all of them since she was going for a strong eye color. Then she used a white eye shadow to highlight the eye area, followed by sweeping turquoise color over it to further enhance the eyes. Then she used black waterproof mascara to 'open' up the eyes. For a smacking kissable pout, she applied a shiny orangey liquid lip color. Upon the finishing touches, she dusted some Moon Flower shimmering dusting powder on them for some fairylike glitter. Stefanie then muttered a charm to make the make-up stay and not needing any touch-ups.

They looked at themselves and twirled around in front of the mirror in awed.

"The make-up and hairdo look great!!" Lily gushed. She was wearing a bright yellow colored two-piece bikini inside. Her plain white halter-neck mini tee did not conceal her yellow halter-neck styled bikini top. Her very short navy blue shorts showed her legs perfectly. With a matching blue denim-styled shoulder bag and black velvety slippers, she had the very casual beach babe look.

"We look great together." Stefanie remarked, admiring her braids. She had a white two-piece bikini with pink polka dots, which looked really good on her body. Her sky blue spaghetti sheer top with embroidery details and a long sheer white body hugging skirt brought out her curvaceous figure. A beige colored handbag and light blue slippers was all that needed to match her ultra sexy outfit.

"The make up give us the underwater glow of a sea nymph." Arabella joked. She had chosen a Boston red bikini set under her red and orange multi-colored midriff halter-top. She had a very mini orange drawstring tube skirt, which flattered her long and slender legs. With a pair of orange slip-ons and a sleek red handbag, she looked extremely hot in the skimpy outfit.

"A very good use of swirling shades of coral and oceanic blue." Samantha praised. Under her blue short and sheer Hawaiian print sundress, she wore a bright orange triangle bikini top and drawstring orange boy-leg bikini bottom. A pair of light blue slippers and a small orange handbag was enough to make her sizzling hot and strikingly outstanding.

"Wow!!" Joey said in awe. Beneath her blue midriff baring halter-top and blue colored sheer wrap-around skirt, she wore a blue and white polka-do bikini set. A simple white slip-ons and cream-colored handbag was enough to bring out her warm and dazzling personality.

"We better start clearing the stuffs away now." Arabella suggested. The girls' dormitory was in a huge mess after a night of makeover and dawn was creeping in soon.

"It's nearing seven." Lily checked her watch and started stuffing all her unpacked stuffs into her trunk.

"We spent one whole night on dressing up!!" Stefanie remarked and started clearing all her make up away and keep them into her trunk.

"This is definitely worth the night." Samantha commented. She had cleared most of her things the night before and finished clearing in no time.

"Ready to show face soon." Joey grinned, chunking her leftover stuffs into her trunk.

"Time to charm our trunks to credit card size!!" Lily cheered and said the charm. Her trunk reduced to the size of credit card and she put it into her transfigured bag. The rest of them charmed their trunks as well and kept it inside their new bags.

"Let's leave at eight-fifteen when most people are awake and would be at the common room."

"Yeah, and act cool huh??"

33333333333333333333

"The people should have revert back to their original sex by now." James said. It was the day they were returning home for the summer holidays and the guys were doing some last minute packing that morning.

"Well, we can always try again on the Slytherins if you want more." Sirius said cheekily.

"Next time we're going to do something even more exciting."

"Like what??"

"We think about that next year."

"How many detentions have we gotten so far??"

"I think I've about four hundred and fifty six." James tried to remember the number he saw on Filch's file for himself.

"I've four hundred and sixty eight." Sirius boasted.

"I only have four hundred and thirty two." Remus said. "Last position."

"I've four hundred and forty four." Peter said.

"Yeah!! I beat you guys!!" Sirius cheered and jumped around the room.

"Please act your age and not your I.Q." Remus joked.

"I'm hungry. We better hurry up." James hurried the rest as he flunk and squeezed everything into his trunk with force and magic.

"Done." Sirius cheered. "I won!! I won!!" James threw his pillow at Sirius to shut him up.

"Ouch!!"

"Pete?? Rem??"

"Done!!"

"Let's go for breakfast!!"

33333333333333333333

"Oh my god!!"

"Look at them!!"

"Babelicious!!"

"Stunning!!"

"Sexy!!"

Most heads turned to look at the five girls who were descending down the spiral staircase from the girls' dormitory. Gorgeous was an understatement to describe them.

"Stefanie looks the sexiest."

"I prefer Arabella. She looks sizzling hot."

"Samantha is the most attractive."

"Lily is the best. Nice and simple."

"Joey looks really cute."

"All look equally good."

Everyone in the common room was ogling at the five girls and guys flooded towards them while girls admired them enviously from all directions.

"Hi girls."

"Hi."

"Good morning."

"Morning."

"You girls look great."

"Thanks."

"Hey gorgeous babes."

"Hey."

The five girls were kinda surrounded by people who caught up with them just for a short morning pre-breakfast conversation.

33333333333333333333

"What's happening??" James asked his friends. There was a small group of people surrounded together in the middle of the common room.

"Don't know. Let's check it out." Sirius said. They went over to find out what everyone was talking about.

"Wow."

"Oh Merlin!!"

"Gorgeous!!" The Marauders looked at the girls in admiration. Their jaws literally dropped to the ground.

"Hey guys." Lily greeted the Marauders. The other four girls were too busy chatting to notice the incoming Marauders.

"Y-you girls look stunning." James stammered.

"Thanks." Lily smiled prettily at James.

"Hey people!! Enough with the beauties. Don't forget about breakfast." Andrew shouted at the gathering crowd in the common room. The group dispersed and most of them left the girls alone and headed towards different direction.

"Thanks Andrew." The five girls said gratefully.

"You girls are going to get more of that when you're at the Great Hall." Andrew joked.

"We're aware of that."

"That's what we want."

"Let's go. I'm starving." The five girls left the Gryffindor tower together.

There were catcalls and wolf whistles from all direction as they walked towards the Great Hall with poise and grace.

"Good morning babes!!"

"Hey gorgeous!!"

"Morning babes!!"

"Stunning beauties!!"

"Amazing clothes!!"

They walked towards the Great Hall, chattering and giggling among themselves. They stopped several times talking to some other girls from other houses but ignored all the guys.

"We're experiencing the same thing again like two years ago."

"Except this time was even more because of what we wore."

"Well, this is kinda fun."

"Yeah, aren't we just attention seekers??"

"Let's help ourselves with the breakfast!!"

The five girls ate their breakfasts together and chattering and giggling. Many guys had approached them for small conversation. The Marauders had came and sat next to them but they did not bothered much with the four guys. It was like an all-girls morning for the five fifteen-year-old Gryffindors.

After breakfast, they returned to their dormitory and to get their bags.

"Shall we crave our names again??"

"Above the doorway??"

"How to??"

"We can't float now."

"Then we carve at the edge of the bed??"

"Sounds good." The five girls went to their respective beds and carved their names at a corner of the four-poster bed.

"Done." After one final look at their dormitory for one-year, they left the room.

"Can't believe we're going sixth-year the next time we meet."

"Time flies so fast."

"I'm going to miss you girls so so so much!!"

"Me too." Lily, Arabella and Stefanie hugged Samantha and Joey before the two girls left them to meet up with their friends from Ravenclaw.

"Let's start heading to Hogsmeade station." Lily suggested. They left the Gryffindor tower together and slowly strolled towards the station with several guys joining them now and then.

33333333333333333333

"Let's go and join the girls in front." James said and jogged up to join his three friends.

"Hey guys."

"What with the beachwear today??"

"Just for fun??"

"You girls look stunning today."

"Don't we look stunning everyday??"  
  


"No, you don't" Arabella hit Sirius on his head the moment that reply escaped from his mouth.

The seven of them talked and laughed together as they made their way to the train.

The Marauders, obviously had to do a prank during the journey, had left the girls alone in their usual last compartment for half an hour.

"Dungbombs again??"

"Very smart answer."

"What else can you guys do??"

"Anyway people are getting immune to the smell somehow."

"We increased our dosage already."

"Three dungbombs per compartment. How does that sounds??"

"Horrible."

"Well, anyone game for a game of Exploding Snap??"


	58. Hawaii Holidays

**Chapter 57: Hawaii Holidays**

"Hey, how are we going to spend our holidays?" James asked his five friends who were gathered together at his house on the third day to their start of the summer holidays.

"Do we need to practice with Dumbledore again?" Lily reminded.

"I suposed we need. Well, we can owl him." Remus told them.

"Good idea." James said and accioed a quill and parchment for a note.

"There's no need to write a note to me." A familiar voice called from behind.

"Dumbledore!" The six of them chorused.

"I've accidentally eavesdropped your discussion." Dumbledore winked at them. "Why don't you all have a short break this time? You deserve them."

"How aboutwe go to my holiday beach house at Hawaii magical community?" James suggested excitedly. The last time he went there with his family, more likely his sister, was way before he even enroled into Hogwarts.

"Great idea. Haven't been there for ages." Sirius agreed wholeheartedly. He had joined them once before they entered Hogwarts.

"Don't forget your mission." Dumbledore reminded them. The six of them groaned in disappointment. "If you want, I'll let you all free for one month."

"Thank you so much!" They cheered happily.

"We can go to Hawaii?" James asked Dumbledore and he nodded in agreement.

"There's just one condition. We need to protect the six of you from Volcano, asthe way you all nicknamed him." Dumbleodore turned to a more serious tone. "Harry will be the secret keeper for the six of you while you all are there enjoying yourself while Fion will be there to keep an eye on the six of you."

"Sounds great!"

"Haven't seen Fion for a long time."

The six of them continued on their little discussion happily on what they could do there.

"Harry, soyou're alright withbeing their secret keeper?" Dumbledore was discussing with Mr. Potter at their manor.

"Sure thing. They ought to have some fun once in awhile." Harry Potter agreed. "It had been so long since we last went there."

"Fion will take them there via the portkey and check on them now and then." Helen Potter told him.

"Mum, we'll be fine." James assured his concerned mother again. "We've grown up."

"I'm sure they can take care of themselves but no underage magic still. We'll only allowed you all to practice a little here and there." Dumbledore spoke with a straight face. "When you return, we've to start teaching you how to apparate."

"That sounds awesome."

"I think learning apparation only after you finish school is a little too late. And you can't learn in Hogwarts because it has enchantment to prevent people from apparating in Hogwarts." Dumbledore said.

"So when can we go to the beach-house?" Sirius asked anxiously, changing the topic from seriousness to fun.

"It's up to you all actually." Harry smiled at the teens.

"Tomorrow!" The six of them chorused.

"But first thing first, let's get on with the Fidelius Charm." Dumbledore said and gathered the six of them around him and Mr. Potter as well.

"The six of you looks like excited little kids." Fion grinned at the six eager sixteen-year-olds who were carrying their luggage in their pockets and walkingtowards the portkey room.

"So when is my dear _old_ sister going to get married off?" James asked, rolling his eyes in annoyance to be called a little kid.

"That depends when Gabriel wants it." Fion blushed slightly. Gabriel Dashwood was an outstanding auror and had been together with Fion for about five years. "His job put him at risk, especially now with the rising dark lord."

"It's a noble job." Arabella said in awe.

"I'm going to be an auror someday." Sirius boasted.

"Me too." James added.

"I don't know the nobility of the job if you two are going to be inside." Lily joked.

"Well, I'm glad you're taking your life easy even though you know what your future holds." Fion smiled encouragingly.

"What can we do about it anyway? Since I'm going to die somehow, I might as well as enjoy life now like any other sixteen-year-old."

"I still can't believe I'll be sent to Azkaban for twelve years because I murdered muggles."

"How ever did we actually become professors in Hogwarts is going to be a mystery?"

"I'll go missing in actions and disappear for good. Who's worse?"

"Me of course."

"Definitely, we're the short-lived people around."

"But you two have gotten yourself a _son_ to lead your life." Fion said teasingly. Lily and James started blushing again. The rest of the four friends always laughed at the two whenever the future Harry Potter was mentioned because Lily and James' reaction looked so funny.

"Wow!" Lily looked at the Potter's beach house in amazement. From the exterior, it was made of wooden planks and gave a cozy little beach house look. But the interior looked nothing as compared to the outside and luxurious was an understatement. It had a much simpler design than the Potter's Manor but yet had all the necessities needed for a holiday.

"The world of magic is really amazing." Arabella looked around at the luxuriously designed beach house.

"I designed this beach house many years ago because I wanted to design a house that I really like." Fion said humbly. "My parents refused to let me play with our house deco except my rooms."

"This look amazing." Stefanie complimented. "No wonder it looks kinda different from the last time I seen it." She was invited to their beach house with Sirius last time, but did not stayed as long as the two guys.

"I kept the necessities such as jacuzzi, steam room,saunaand indoor pool though. Only changed the appearance of the walls and furnitures." Fion was giving them a quick tour around the house. The walls looked as though it was made of wooden planks. There was a balcony in front of the entrance with white plastic furniture, which overlook the sea. "You'll get to see a beautiful sunset from this direction." She pointed at the balcony at the side.

"This is really wonderful." Remus said appreciatively.

"Wow, one month here. It sounds really fun." Lily said, looking aroundat the Jacuzzi room.

"Bring your stuffs up first. There are only two rooms and both are identical. One for guys and one for girls." Fion called out to the six scattered teenagers.

"We can always sleep together." Sirius grinned mischievously, winking at James.

"No way!" Arabella shouted out from another direction.

"Let's get to the room. You all have one full month to enjoy the stay here." Fion called out and led the group up to the second floor. "Guys to the left and girls to the right." Fion pointed the guys to go to the left room and led the girls to the right one. "Here is it." She followed the girls to the room since two of the guys had stayed here for a rather long time when they were younger.

"Wow! That's beautiful!" Lily said in awe. The room was about the size of James' bedroom. There was a low wooden king-sized bed with a thick spring mattress facing the direction of the balcony. The balcony overlooked the sea and the entire wall was replaced with transparent glass planes. There was three rattan armchairs lined with sheepskin for extra comfort. A large six-door wooden cupboard lined at one side of the room along with a full-length mirror and dresser. The room had a classic cottage wooden style look.

"How do you maintain this house so perfectly and all it's wooden furniture?" Arabella asked Fion.

"By magic, of course. Several complicated charms and enchantments to protect the stuffs here from too much moisture and salt." Fion told them.

"This house is really beautiful." Stefanie complimented again. "You definitely have great taste."

"Inside or outside?"

"Both!"

"Luckily Fion brought five house elves here for us to do the chores." James said as he ate a slice of Hawaiian pizza.

"It would be disastrous if you guys ever step into the kitchens." Lily joked and helped herself with a large slice of meat lovers' pizza.

"We could be chefs in the future for all you know." Sirius exclaimed in pretended shock.

"Anyone with brains knows better than to eat the food you guys cook." Arabella pretended to mock Sirius.

"So what are we going to do today?" Remus asked the group.

"How about surfing?" Stefanie suggested. "Haven't done that for ages."

"I don't know how." Lily shrugged.

"Neither do I." Arabella added.

"We can teach you." Sirius bragged.

"Risk my life to be taught by you?" Arabella commented. "No, thanks."

"It's going to be fun, I assure you." Sirius said in an extremely smooth voice.

"I don't doubt that." James added enthusiastically.

"Ok, let's give it a try then." Lily told Arabella. "I don't know how to surf either."

"I'llfetch six surfboards for us from the store." James said and headed towards the storeroom. "Accio six surfboards." The six surfboards followed beside him and ended up in front of them.

"Whoever designed this ugly thing?" Arabella commented as they looked at the design which wasa a mess of colors.

"This is call abstract art." Sirius defended.

"So you're the artist for this." Lily teased.

"I designed this when I was only ten."

"I see the resemblance with the owner." Arabella commented.

"It isn't that ugly. Look at James' one."

"Where?" Lily asked, looking around.

"Too bad. I've already erased off the design." James grinned.

He went into the storeroom and took out some magical paints andandstarted designingtheir surfboards, totally personalizing it.

"Finished." James said proudly, holding it up. His surfboard was now bright green in colour with neon flashing orange words that read 'James the Great' in a font similar to comic sans MS.

"That's so egoistic." Lily teased.

"Your isn't anywhere less than mine." James pointed out. Lily's surfbiard was of bright yellow with alternating green and blue words that reads 'LiLy EvAnS'.

"Look at my masterpiece." Sirius called out for attention.

"There's nothing on it." Arabella frowned a little. The rest looked at the plain white glossy board but did not notice anything different.

"Look at this." Sirius held up the boardfacing them and turned it right. The board turned bright blue. Then when he turned it right, it became bright green. When he elevated it, it turned bright red. Basically it was changing color with the direction it goes.

"Luckily it's all magical community here." James said. "The muggles will freak out if they notice your wakeboard changed color with direction."

"Bell, yours look great!" Lily exclaimed. Arabella's board was lavender in color and it was transparent.

"How did you make it transparent when the material still feels about the same?" Stefanie asked.

"I used the crystal-clear charm, although I vaguely remembered that we can't use magic outside school. The wakeboard looked just like a purple outline right?" Arabella admired her wakeboard from different directions.

"I think Sirius and Arabella's surfboard both are out to seek attention." Remus teased.

"The four of us had rather _normal_ looking wakeboards." Stefanie agreed. Her surfboard was a simple design showing the sun, sky, sea and sand with a nice blend of colors. Remus had just made the word 'quiksilver' looking blue and watery instead of just a still word. Generally both their surfboards looked normal.

"Yeah, we shall see mine get more attention or yours." Sirius told Arabella competitively.

"I'm not interested in the attention. I just designed it the way I want." Arabella claimed.

"Let's get upstairs to change to beach wear." James said. "This time those clothes you girls wore on the last day of school really came in a handy."

"You're wearing the same clothes again?" Stefanie asked Lily. Stefanie had brought more than ten set of new beachwear for this holiday.

"Not really. Transfigured clothes don't last long enough." Lily said in a low voice. "I owned the entire outfit that I transfigured that day. The only thing I transfigured out from the magazine was the yellow two piece swimsuit."

"You can borrow mine." Stefanie offered.

"Thanks. But I think I'll feel safer wearing sports bra out in the water. This two-piece is really flimsy and I'm not too comfortablewith it." Lily said and changed out of her bra to sports bra and slipped on a plain white tee and very short blue navy. "I'm done."

"Don't forget to apply sunscreen." Arabella said and started applying an SPF 50 sunscreen upon changing into a transfigured pink and yellow stripe bikini set. "Someone help me with my back."

"Bell, help me with my back." Stefanie sat down in front of Arabella after changing into her one-piece chili-red halter swimsuit with a pair of mini orange drawstring shorts.

"I think I better apply some on myself too." Lily applied a little sunscreen on her face and neck and then applied on her hands and legs. Since she was wearing a top, so she could skip her back. Then she proceed onto help Arabella apply on her back.

"What's taking the girls?" James asked for the fifth time. The three guys had been sitting at the balcony of their beach house for the last ten minutes waiting for the girls to come down.

"Girls are just slow." Sirius said in a bored tone.

"We heard that." Arabella said from the back.

"It's ok. It was meant for you girls to hear anyway." Sirius said coolly, scrutinizing the girls up and down.

"Brother-dear, please keep your eyes on yourself." Stefanie gave her brother a smack on his shoulder.

"Wow. I see why you girls took such a long time." James said, scanning the girls' skimpy and sexy outfit.

"Let's get started with surfing. Spider webs are forming while you girls were upstairs changing." Sirius joked and accioed the surfboards along with them.

"Try standing and balancing on it." James helped Lily with the surfboard. Sirius and Arabella were bickering away while he tried to teach Arabella. Sirius did not want to go to the ocean alone since both his friends were busy helping the girls.

"Ahh." Lily balanced for a little while until the waves came and she fell into the water with a splash.

"C'mon, try again." James encouraged.

"Why don't you do it once and I watch you?" Lily suggested, putting on a bright orangelifejacket.

"Watch me!" James said. He laid on his wakeboard and peddled forward, and then skillfully he stood up and slid along with the waves for several minutes before rejoining Lily at the shoreline.

"Wow. That was great." Lily praised.

"Hasn't done that for ages." James said, water dripping from his wet and messy hair. "Let's give it a try?"

"What if I fall into the sea? I can't swim." Lily said as she tried balancing herself on the surfboard.

"We can save you. All of us can swim." James assured and Lily tried to balance on the slippery surfboard. Remus and Stefanie were already out in the sea surfing. Sirius was still trying to get Arabella to listen to his 'advice on surfing the right way' not too far away from them. "You wanna try it yourself?"

"Might as well." Lily said, trying to sound confident. "I'm sure you want to play too." Sirius and Arabella had just peddled out into the waters.

"Are you sure?"

"Well, you're going to save me if I fall."

"Of course." James assured.

"Okie dokes. Off I go." Lily laid on her wakeboard and peddled out into the waters. _Splat. This seems kinda fun._ _Ok, wave coming in. I'm supposed to stand up or something. This is tough man. _Lily tried standing up slowly, still trying to balance.

Wwhhoooossshhh!

The waves came crashing and soaked Lily thoroughly once again. _Splat. _She emerged on the surface, still lying on the surfboard. _Bleah, salt water. _She wiped her face with one hand quickly can continued peddling for a while. _I see another wave. Let me try again._

Wwwhhooosssshhh!

"AAAHHH!" Lily screamed as she fell into the water. The wave was so hard that it had flunked her off from her surfboard. She took a deep breath as the waves came crashing above her, pushing her under the water but her life jacket kept her afloat. Before she knew it, she had lost consciousness.

_Ahhh, the feeling of being push into water is really familiar._

_The feeling of water crashing from the top._

_Déjà vu._

_When did that happened before?_

_"I believe my parents are going to have some boring Christmas party at home on Chirstmas Day this year. How about all of you come and join me? Sirius, Stefanie, Remus and I had to make an appearance in that party. After that we can have a mini party in one of the rooms without disturbing the adults. Fion said that she misses Sirius and Remus in the last letter and suggested that I can invite some friends over for Christmas."_

_Who said that? Sounded like someone I know._

_"All these gentlemanly manners had to be observed in these sorts of parties. I did this with Fion back then before she had a boyfriend."_

_Who said that to me before?_

_"Well, there are a lot of things you don't know about me."_

_Why is there this male voice kept appearing in my head?_

_"I like plain and normal looking colors but Remus wanted plain colored ones too. So I figured that tattoos might look interesting on them. Anyway I transfigured one hundred and fifty one of these art pieces here. There're no two rabbits that are identical, mind you."_

_"My name is Harry Potter and he is Ronald Weasley."_

_Déjà vu._

"Oh no!" James looked at Lily's empty wakeboard in shocked. Without further ado, he dived into the water and swam vigorously against the strong currents. _Please don't let anything happen to Lily. _James swam faster and faster. It was getting tiring because the currents were rather strong at the further part of the sea. _Where's Lily? _James looked around frantically. _Lily must be floating around somewhere. She was a wearing a lifejacket, wasn't she?_

Suddenly he spotted an orange object with red hair floating not too far away from him. Detecting another wave coming, he swam faster and closer towards the person, keeping his eyes glued to it although the seawater was stinging his eyes.

"Got you." James turned the lifeless body around and saw Lily's face, eyes shut tightly. He grabbed hold of her neck and started peddling back to the shore as quickly as possible. _Please don't let anything happen to Lily._ Just when the wave came crashing down, both of them reached the shoreline.

"Lily!" Stefanie called Lily as she undid her lifejacket. She had heard James' shouts and realized that Lily could be in danger. Without further delay she did the cardiopulmonary resuscitation on Lily expertly until Lily start splattering salt water out.

"Lily!" James called out and shook her rather vigorously but she was not responding.

"Stef, do continue withthe CPR." Remus said. Stefanie,having learned first aid,continued the steps while they were eyeing her reaction. Lily split out more seawater but still yet regain consciousness.

"What happened to Lily?" Arabella came rushing over with Sirius, leaving their surfboards lying by the shore. "Lily!"

"She fell off the board." James said, not taking his eyes of Lily's pale face.

"Should be okay, she's breathing normally." Stefanie listened to Lily's breathing and heartbeat.

"But why isn't she conscious yet?" James asked frantically shaking Lily.

"I don't know." Stefanie said.

"Lily!" They were all shaking Lily vigorously now.

"Ahh!" Lily gave a faint moan of discomfort with all the shakes.

"You're awake!" James said and hugged Lily tightly. The rest of them looked at the two of them knowingly.

"Yeah. I'm fine." Lily said, sitting upright now.

"You sure?" Stefanie asked, her eyes filled with concern.

"Yup. Don't worry." Lily said feebly and gave an assuring smile.

"We'll take you back to the house." Arabella said and helped Lily up. "Can you walk?"

"Yes."

"If you can't, James will be more than happy to carry you back." Sirius said suggestively, earning a vicious stare from James.

"No, no, no. It's okay. I'm fine." Lily rejected immediately.

"Don't be shy. After all, he rescued you." Sirius grinned cheekily.

"What happened actually? I was knocked out after I fell into the sea." Lily asked Arabella and Stefanie as they accompanied her back to the house.

"James swam out and rescued you back to shore."

"I must really thank him then."

"You owed him your life now."

"What a thing to say. It was normal. Anyone would have saved me. Won't you?" Lily turned to Arabella and Stefanie who were on each side.

"We'll save you of course. But the person who actually risking his life to save you was James."

"Ok, I'll thank him later."

"You seems better now."

"I'm fine. You two just don't believe me."

"You nearly drowned! How can we believe you're fine?"

"I can stay in the room myself. You two go out and join the guys to play." Lily assured them. She had wanted some peace to think.

"We want to keep you company."

"I'll feel bad if you two didn't get to enjoy today because of me."

"We want to stay by your side."

"I'm going to take a shower now. Then I'll go to the beach and find you guys. You two can't stay my side when I shower. Besides I don't want that either."

"Alright then. You take care of yourself. We're just a few steps away."

"Go and have fun! Shoo! Shoo!" Lily shooed them off the beach house jokingly and returned to their room. _Whatever happened just now definitely felt a little strange._

Lily on the faucet and let the water run down her body, enjoying the coolness of the water in the middle of the hot tropical Hawaii Island. _Did I remember something I have forgotten?_


	59. Joy in Life

**Chapter 58: Joy in Life**

"Do you know how harmful is the ultraviolet light??" Stefanie asked the three guys whose skin were sort of reddish and peeling.

"Luckily the sunscreen we used was quite good. We get a bit of tan but yet not peeling like the guys." Lily said, applying moisturizer on her hands and legs.

"Pass the moisturizer over." James asked the girls. Lily squirted some onto her palm and passed the big bottle of Nivea Intensive Moisturizing Lotion to him.

"We're bringing business for Nivea." Sirius said, getting some moisturizer from James.

"Well, we definitely need this. It's so cooling." Remus said as he applied some all over him.

"But using about one bottle a day for the six of us seems really exaggerating." Arabella joked, rubbing in circular motion. There was a carton of twenty-four bottles of 500ml moisturizer kept in the storeroom, which was cooled magically as if it was a muggle refrigerator.

"Help me apply my back??" Arabella asked Stefanie, facing her back in front of Stefanie.

"We would be more than willing to help you apply as well." Sirius grinned cheekily. Stefanie put her hand in Arabella's off-shoulder grey top and started rubbing.

"No thanks!!" Arabella stood up and glared at Sirius at his pervert sounding comment.

"Stef, when you're done, wanna take a walk along the beach??" Remus asked Stefanie, sounding casual.

"Sure. I'm done actually." Stefanie said, rubbing the last bit of moisturizer in her palm onto her shoulders. "Bell, you done??"

"You pervert sicko!!" Arabella shouted at Sirius, both of them standing up and facing each other.

"All guys think of that!!" Sirius answered with his trademark cheeky grin.

"James and Remus don't!!"

"They just don't say it!!"

"At least they don't _say_ it!!"

"I'm just being absolutely honest with you girls!!"

"We don't appreciate that sort of _honesty_ really!!"

"But girls like guys to be honest!!"

"Honest yes!! Pervert no!!"

"So you're saying all men are perverts??"

"I'm saying particularly _some_ men are desperately perverts!!"

"Whom are you referring to??"

33333333333333333333

"Who else but _you_??"

"How can you call the great and handsome and wonderful and amazing and interesting and humorous-"

"And egoistic!!"  
  


"You saying I'm egoistic?!?"

"Duh!! Am I talking to anyone else but you??"

"I've confidence in myself, unlike some _people_."  
  


"You saying that I've no confidence in myself??"

"I didn't say that!!"

"You meant that!!"

"Smart huh!! That's what I mean."

"They seem to be having a great time arguing." Remus comment, eyeing the bickering pair who were standing on their couches to elevate themselves.

"Do you want to stay here and watch or get out of here??" Stefanie asked.

"I would prefer them to stop actually." Lily said. "Saliva is splattering all over the place, literally."

"They had yet to have any decent argument with us around to stop them." James pointed out.

"So we shall let them argue to their heart's content today??" Lily asked, grinning away.

"Stef and I will be going to walk along the beach. How about you two??" Remus asked Lily and James. Stefanie nodded at Lily.

33333333333333333333

"I can't believe we ended up doing this." Lily said, talking to no one in particular actually.

"Don't you think this is cool??" James asked.

"It's _cool_ in physical sense. But not in the normal sense."

"I always enjoy this. It's so relaxing."

"It is relaxing. But somehow I felt the company is not right."

"I don't make a good companion??"

"I don't mean that of course."

"Then??"

"I would prefer to do something like this with girls actually."

"I usually do it alone."

"That's because you've it at home. So do both of them."

"Yeah. It's kinda bored you know."

"There is always accompanying music."

"I know. But no one to talk to."

"You're really lucky to be born with a _diamond_ spoon in your mouth."

"What do you mean by diamond spoon?? I only heard of silver spoon."

"Just exaggerating a little."

"Then what about yourself?? What type of spoon??"

"I would say plastic toothbrush."

"That's a funny way of saying it."

"I'm not well-to-do in case you hasn't notice that."

"I know. But I'm not discriminating the poorer people around."

"I know I know, Mr. Nice Guy."

"Thanks!!"

"That wasn't meant to be a compliment."

"It wasn't??"

"Never mind."

"Let's enjoy the sensation of the pressure."

"I'm already enjoying it."

"Glad to hear that."

"Fion is good at the little but important details."

"Yeah, I gotta agree with you for this."

"Maybe we can ask her join us for a couple of days."

"Why would you want a big old woman to join us when we youngsters are having fun??"

"She's not that big nor old. She's mature and gorgeous."

"Excuse me. She's far from that. You probably didn't know she sat on me literally the night before we left for Hawaii."

"For what??"

"Make me promise her that I don't burn the house down or something."

"She could fireproof it."

"She did."

"That's funny. Why would she say that??"

"I think when I was really young, I heard about the 'lumos' spell. I started muttering it around the house and burnt down the ground floor without my parents knowing until when they came out of the study."

"Oh my god."

"Long story anyway, in simple words. The immature Fion made me promise her stuffs by sitting on me."

"That explains why you enjoy sitting on Sirius so much." Lily started laughing uncontrollably.

"Hey!!" James said and splashed the water at Lily.

"Don't splash me!!"

"You laughed at me first!!"

"It was funny!!"

"Fine!!" James muttered and sat down onto the edge of the large Jacuzzi again. Lily was sitting at the opposite end, facing him. The Jacuzzi was large enough to hold at least twelve people at normal size and can be magicked to hold more people when need.

"Angry huh??"

"James Potter is never a petty fella." James said unconvicedly.

"Really??" Lily said cheekily and started splashing water vigorously at him.

"Ahh!! Stop!!" James said and got up of the Jacuzzi, his white Esprit tee shirt and red Quiksilver Bermudas was dripping with water. James muttered the drying spell and it was dried instaneously.

"So how relaxing is this Jacuzzi??" Lily asked from behind, getting out of the Jacuzzi towards James' end. Her white Hard Rock Café tee shirt and green shorts was dripping with water, which she could not dry it because her wand was not with her. "Dry me!!"

"I'll dry you if you can catch up with me!!" James said and started running.

"This is not fair!! I can't run fast!!" Lily said, running from behind, chasing James out of the Jacuzzi room all the way around the house.

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"So what do you think Lily and James are doing??" Stefanie asked Remus casually as both of them sat out in the sand and looked up at the evening sky.

"I don't know. But I'm sure they're definitely having fun." Remus replied, knowing James.

"That's nice. I'm pretty sure Sirius and Arabella are still bickering. They probably haven't notice the four of us went missing for the last half hour." Stefanie joked.

"So any idea what shall we do tomorrow??" Remus asked.

"No idea. We already went windsurfing, wakeboarding, canoeing, kayaking, played beach volleyball, quidditch by the sea, and lots of don't know what in the last week."

"I've an idea."

"What??"

"We can try fishing."

"Fishing??"

"Yeah, the Potter owned the biggest cruise ship in the world and it looked like Titanic except the stuffs are magical!!"

"Yeah, we have been there when we were younger."

"Maybe we can go on a cruise or something??"

"But don't you think it's a little too exaggerating??"

"Six of us go fishing on a cruise ship?!?"

"Erm, speedboat??"

"Yacht??"

"How many ships does the Potter's own??"

"No idea. I think should have about ten altogether. James doesn't know the exact number either."

"Minister earns a lot??"

"Mr. Potter is a muggle businessman as well. He has the connections."

"Really capable man."

"Jamesie boy is a lucky guy."

"He has everything and anything he wants."

"Well, he deserves it." Remus said and gave a soft sigh.

"What's with the sigh??"

"Let's not talk about unhappy stuffs."

"Ok."

"So, any idea where we might be going in the next summer break??"

"That's like too far to think."

"I think Arabella might have some idea about it."

"I guess so. She predicts the stuffs subconsciously."

"Poor her. Know too much for her own good." Both of them remain silent for a while, looking at the now night sky, after Remus comment. It was a silence of understanding and acknowledgement and not the awkward type.

"So Remus-"

"So Stef-" Both of them spoke up at the same time. They turned to each other and laughed at their rapport.

"You first."

"No, ladies first."

"Ok. Ladies say gentlemen go first."

"Then I shall say first."

"Just wanna ask if you wanna be-"

"Yes."

"I haven't said out yet."

"I understand."

"You do??"

"Yes." Stefanie said, smiling at Remus.

"Well, since you said yes, I'm going to tickle you!!" Remus said and started tickling Stefanie on her waist.  
  


"Stop!! Stop!!" Stefanie struggled and screamed. Remus paused for a moment to speak, his head slightly above Stefanie's because she was lying on the sand.

"I wanted to ask you if you wanna be tickled and you said yes. So I'm tickling you!!" Remus said and continued tickling.

"NO!! Stop!!" Stefanie squealed and resisted tickling.

"What did you thought I wanna ask??" Remus said cheekily.

"I thought you wanted to ask me if I want-" Stefanie said blushing, thanking the darkness which hid her blush. "To return to check if Sirius and Arabella had stopped squabbling." Stefanie completed lamely.

"I hope this answer the question." Remus said and planted a gentle kiss onto Stefanie's right cheek.

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"Fishing is for gentlemen!!" Arabella said, totally annoyed with Sirius' arrogance.

"I'm a gentleman!!" Sirius replied, never losing out to Arabella remarks.

"You?? Oh please!!"

"I shall go and fish for you to see!!"

"Yeah, I'm going to be _so_ impressed!!"

"Fine, wait and see. I'm going to ask James and Remus to go fishing with me!!"  
  


"Yeah?? Like when?? Next year??"

"Tonight!!"

"Go ahead. Drown in the sea if possible!!"

"I think you fit into the ocean better than I do!!"

"Aww.. Just admit you can't fish!!"

"Who says so??"

"I bet you never even touched a rod before!!"

"I didn't. But I'm a fast learner!!"  
  


"Fish a fish up for me to see!!"

"We shall see!! James?? Remus?? Let's go fishing now!!" Sirius said, turning around to face an empty seat on the place when James and Remus were previously sitting on.

"Where are Lily and Stef??" Arabella turned around to find her two friends went missing from their seats.

"How could they left without a word?!?"

"Yeah. Let's go and find them!!"

"For once you agreed with Sirius the great one!!"  
  


"Oh please. It was just a remark and not an agreement!!"

"But you agreed!!"

"Wah, it's nine already!!"

"You wasted so much of my precious time when I could spend them at the gym or something."

"You look freaking muscle-less, so you might as well as stop wasting your time."

"You're probably just jealous of my six packs." Sirius said, patting his abdominal muscles.

"Haha. Very funny!! I wouldn't want to exchange for that _United Nations_." Arabella said, patting her flat tummy.

"Excuse me, I've _continents_ in case you can't tell the difference."

"Who says I can't?? I'm just not intere-"

"I can't believe you guys are still arguing." Lily called out to the still bickering Arabella and Sirius. They had argued for the last two hours and apparently it was still going on if not for Lily's interruption. "Guess what James and I found??"


	60. Strange Pets

**Chapter 59: Strange Pets**

"Looks like this poor doggie got no owner." Stefanie said, playing with the calico Chiwawa on the floor.

"We were pretty sure of that before we brought it back." Lily said, clapping her hands to attract the dog's attention.

"You guys are taking forever to name the dog." James said, sitting at another corner, trying to attract the attention of the dog but the dog went to Lily instead.

"Name him Serious." Sirius said, sitting some distance away from the dog. He was not afraid of dogs, but the Chiwawa seems to be a little scared if Sirius instead. It was probably because since James and Lily brought back the dog a couple of days ago, Sirius had started chasing the dog around the beach house. Arabella and Sirius had been arguing non-stop until the Chiwawa came to divert his attention, which made him, lost the argument.

"You wanted a dog to name after you??" James teased.

"Why not?? All dogs should obey Sirius the Great Dog." Sirius boasted.

"Ahem." Remus coughed to get Sirius' attention. "Seriously I don't think you'll want the dog to name after you because next time if we ever call Sirius, both you and the dog will respond to it."

"Good point." Sirius said, stroking his chin.

"Please name him anything but Sirius Edward Black." Arabella said, currently having the dog on her lap. "Nothing should be named after him. It ruins the reputation."

"Hey. Being Sirius Black is something everyone dying to be."

"I definitely don't think I want to be Sirius Black." Arabella rolled her eyes.

"Neither do I. I'm a happy James Potter here."

"I rather be Remus Lupin than to be named Sirius Black."

"Frankly I'm happier being Stefanie Black."

"Count me out from being named Sirius Black."

"How could you guys, my very best friends, say something like this??" Sirius whined dramatically.

"So can we find a better name for the dog other than Serious or Sirius??" Stefanie asked suggestively.

"How about a cute name??"

"Cutie??" Sirius suggested.

"Cute name doesn't necessary mean must include the word cute. Just like seriousness doesn't mean Sirius is anywhere near there."

"Nemo??"

"Cute name. But it sounded more suitable for something like, erm, fish??"

"Brownie??" Arabella suggested.

"Sounds like some sort of food."

"It _is_ a type of food."

"Must be a name that everyone agree to it."

"Sunny??"

"It doesn't seem very appropriate." Remus commented, eyeing the calico Chiwawa.

"Is it a magical dog??"

"I don't know. We found it yapping so softly around the beach house some distance away from here. The house was empty."

"Within the magical community??"

"Not really. Somewhere in between."

"Well. We can go Magical Menagerie to check it out next time."

"Naming the dog please."

"How about Water??"

"It doesn't look anywhere near _drinkable_." Lily remarked. "Not fluid-like and definitely doesn't have the water characteristics."

"What characteristics then??"

"Dark patches around."

"Whitish parts seem scarce."

"Tail looked a little injured."

"Seems to wimp a little."

"Not a very happy dog."

"I've the ultimate cute and suitable name for the dog." James said suddenly.

"What??" The five asked.

"Doggie!!" James announced and he earned three cushions from Sirius, Remus and Lily. And they broke into laughter.

"Ultimate name huh??"

"Cute right??"

"Can you come up with something better??"

"How about icy??"

"No good."

"You might as well as name it fishy."

"That reminds me. Jamesie, Remmy, don't forget to go fishing tomorrow??"

"What's your sudden interest in fishing??"

"Can I develop that interest??"

"Fishing is something very un-Sirius-like."

"It's a serious hobby."

"That's why it's un-Sirius-like."

"Anyway fishing tomorrow??"

"See who catches the most fishes."

"I owled Fion to ask her send some high quality fishing equipments over including baits and stuffs."

"When did you owl her?? How come I wasn't informed??"  
  


"So protective of your older sister huh."

"I'm not. Just curious."

"Yesterday before I sleep."

"Did you??"

"James was sleeping like a pig while Remus was in the bathroom."

"No wonder."

"Anyway Fion knows about fishing, doesn't she??"

"I think should be. She mentioned about fishing with Gabriel before."

"That would be brilliant."

"By the way, guys, can be go back to naming the dog??" Stefanie voiced out to get the attention from the three guys.

"Oh ya. Sirius, please talk about fishing later." Lily agreed with Stefanie.

"Yeah Sirius, shut up on you and your fishes." Arabella rolled her eyes.

"Hey, we're going fishing somewhere in the next few days."

"We already know that."

"You've already said it like a thousand times since two days ago."

"Hellooo?? Name the dog??" Lily called out again.

"Oh yeah. So any other cute name??"

"I've got it. What about Majesty??"

"Sirius, Chiwawa don't look very erm, majestic??"

"How about desire??"

"What desire??"

"Desire for dogs??"

"Sirius, you _desire _for dogs??"

"How about Queen??"

"SIRIUS!!"

"It's a male!!"

"Okok."

"What about cloudy??"

"Sounds depressing."

"Reminds me of Volcano."

"Yeah, dark and gloomy days."

"How about name him Voldie??" James suddenly suggested out.

"Voldie. Hmm." Sirius grinned at the name.  
  


"Great name!!" Remus said agreeing.

"It can't get any better." Stefanie laughed.

"So he shall be Voldie." Lily said. "Voldie, come here." Lily clapped to get the attention of the dog from Remus.

"Voldie Voldie." Arabella called the dog and lifted him up. "This shall be Voldie the Chiwawa!!" She announced.

"Voldie, come here." Sirius called to get the hyperactive dog attention.

"Sirius, why are you fighting with me for Voldie's attention??" Arabella argued.

"Not again." Lily muttered. James, Remus and Stefanie heard her comment and laughed. The next thing that happened was James and Remus pulled Sirius along with them back to their room leaving the three girls and Voldie in the common room.

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"Trust me." Sirius said in a super soothing tone.

"The problem why we can't have trust because it's _you_." James pointed out. The three guys were out in a little motorboat, which was magically steered, all thanks to Fion and her magical ability. "Rem, brought your wand??"

"How can I forget??" Remus said. "My life is at stake."

"C'mon, trust me with this fishing trip." Sirius said. "I had volunteered to steer this thing and you guys insisted on using magic. Fion isn't hundred percent sure it is safe either."

"That's why we brought our wands." Remus reasoned.

"By the way, this is a _motorboat_, not just a thing." James said. "I don't know if I can trust you to use this if you don't even know what it is called."

"Hey, you two are supposed to be my best friends!!"

"We are. That's why we ended up risking our life out here in some part of pacific."

"That's so _sweet_."  
  


"Don't _sweet_ talk me."

"Rem, you went fishing before right??"  
  


"Yeah, with my dad. But that was ages ago."

"Remember how??"  
  


"He connects a lot of stuffs and then fixed the bait and just threw the thing inside the sea."

"That really _helps_."

"Don't expect me to remember something that happened when I was ten."

"You are only sixteen!!"

"That was six years ago!!"

"Ok, Fion had so _kindly_ got everything nicely fixed for us." James said, eyeing the long fishing rod. He had gone fishing barely three times in his whole life and he had never exactly fished anything before. "There's the weight and hook and stuffs. Just put this little prawn as the bait and then throw this in."

"I think this is it. Fion said something like that right??"

"Think so. Might as well give it a try."

"We will not return empty handed." Sirius boasted.

"It's too early to say." James taunted.

"Well, it's about eleven already." Sirius said, checking his blue Baby-G watch. That seems to signify the end of their little conversation because Fion had said that chattering would scare the fishes

33333333333333333333

"Voldie, come here." Lily clapped and the Chiwawa raced across the room towards here. "Seems like he recognize his name as Voldie already."

"How can he not know?? We had been calling him for the last couple of days. Basically the name Voldie appears more than any of us." Stefanie joked, pouring some fresh water to Voldie's dish.

"Voldie, lie down here." Arabella called and Voldie ran across the room towards Arabella and hopped onto a little cushioned basket, which Arabella had just arranged.

"I wonder how are the guys doing."

"They should be fine."

"Well, who cares what they are doing in the middle of Pacific."

"They are not in the _middle_ of the ocean."

"Well, does it matter??"

"What's with you and Sirius??"

"Don't know."

"Don't bluff."

"Don't deny."

"Really nothing."

"As if we are going to believe."

"Can help if you don't."

"One more week before the holiday ends."

"It's quite fast."

"We gotta return so Remus can transform."

"Oh ya, I kinda forgot about it."

"Stef can remind us."

"So how things between you and Remus??"

"Nothing much." Stefanie blushed and looked away, pretended to be busied stroking Voldie.

"Are you sure?? Why are you blushing so much??"

"Really nothing."  
  


"What are you two admitting there's something going on between you and Sirius." Lily said. "And you with Remus??"

"There's nothing between me and Sirius, puh-lease."

"Aha, something between Stef and Remus."

"Nothing. Really."

"Oh yeah??" Lily confronted Stefanie, who was trying to look away.

"Admit it. What did you two do that night at the beach??"

"You two went to the beach alone??" Arabella said, but did not appear to be very shocked. "How come I was not informed??"

"You were busy _arguing_ with Sirius."

"Oh, that night."

"Yeah."

"So what happened??"

"We, erm, talked??"

"And then??"  
  


"Look at stars."

"And??"

"The moon."

"And??"

"The dark sky??"

"And then??"

"The sea??"

"STEF!!"

"Okok, we looked at each other."

"And??"

"Well, nothing much already."

"Don't bluff."

"C'mon."

"Okok, we kissed."

"OOOooo!!"

"Why didn't you tell us earlier??"

"Well, I don't know."

"Aha, I knew it."

"Then why didn't you say earlier??"  
  


"What's the point?? What meant to happen will happen."  
  


"Then what's going to happen next."

"I don't wanna say. We live our life till the end ourselves. If someone tell you the outcome of a story, that gonna spoil everything."

"But you know your own outcome??"

"Yes, and I try not to remember it as well."

"Anyway, back to you two."

"What again?? That's all."

"What did you two do after that??"

"Nothing already." Stefanie admitted. "I already said everything."

"Ok, now for the details."

"First thing first, how did Remus initiate the kiss??" Lily asked cheekily. Voldie was not getting as much attention as he wanted and started yapping around to make the three gossiping girls notice him.

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"I can't believe it." Sirius whined.

"Why not??" James asked. The three boys were now returning to the mainland after several hours of fishing. It was getting dark and James and Remus managed to persuade Sirius to return.

"Well, you caught something." Remus comforted jokingly.

"It's only a squid!!"

"At least that's something!!"

"No!! I want to catch a fish."

"You can have a few of ours if you wanna save your pride in front of Arabella."

"Thanks. Can I have half of yours??" Sirius turned to James. "And yours too." He asked Remus.

"Are you mad?? That's like ten fishes??" James pretended to be shocked. He had caught eight while Remus caught twelve.

"Well, to show that I can fish."

"The problem is that you can't!!"

"C'mon."

"Whatever, he _needs_ it."

"Thanks guys." Sirius scooped the four smallest fishes from James and six of the largest fish from Remus.

"What's with the size??"

"To show Arabella that I can catch fishes of all types and sizes."

"Whatever." James muttered, holding his much lighter Styrofoam box of fishes.

"And there is this cute little squid which I'm going to make it my new pet."

"Yeah, and it will die in a week by your care."

"Handsome is still surviving well under my care." Sirius defended. Handsome was Sirius' owl, which no one agreed that it was handsome at all. Or perhaps no one used the word handsome to describe an owl.

"That's because he's smart enough to fly around and hunt for his own food."

"Maybe I should have named him Smarty instead."

33333333333333333333

"Are you sure you caught all these _ten_ fishes by yourself??" Arabella asked Sirius suspiciously.

"Definitely. I can be a great fisherman you know." Sirius boasted. James and Remus were pretending to cough to stifle their laughter.

"And this miniature squid??"

"Yeah, by me as well."

"I see."

"So what are you going to do with all these fishes??"

"Cook them??"

"How do you guys know if they're edible??"

"Ask Fion??"

"Can you all please don't think Fion is anywhere near a genius or something??"

"She is smart and knowledgeable."

"She is far from that."

"She's a great lady."

"Small would be more suitable."

"Anyway what do you think is the best name for a squid??"

"Who bother about a squid??"

"It's my squid!!"

"Then the fishes??"

"Mine too." Sirius said smoothly. "The squid was the first thing I caught."

"Then keep it in a tank or something."

"Aww, squidty, they wanna ill-treat you."

"Well, you take care of it yourself then, since you're so protective."

"It's a vulnerable little thing."

"Well, _you_ caught it."

"Then I shall name it."

"Suits you."

"It shall be Giant the Squid!!" Sirius announced to his five friends. James and Remus almost choked from drinking water because that was such a huge irony.

"That's erm, a strange name for it." Lily said, looking very amused at the extremely tiny squid squirming around in a big plastic bag.

"It's a great name, right??"

"If you say so."

"Where are you going to keep it??"

"Not in the plastic bag I hope."

"I go and find a tank in the storeroom. I know there is."

"No one is stopping you."

"Voldie, come with me to the storeroom!!" Voldie dashed towards Sirius and followed him excitedly towards the storeroom.


	61. What Lies After Fun

**Chapter 60: What Lies After Fun**

"Voldie, come here!!" James called out. It was their final day at the Potter's Hawaii resort and they were packing their stuffs, preparing to floo home.

"I can't believe you guys name him Voldie. Wait till Voldemort hear it. He'll probably flip." Fion teased as she carried Voldie up.

"Hey, you can't be bias with Voldie. Why don't you take a look at Giant??" Sirius called out from behind, leaving his suitcase at the staircase unattended and went to take a look at his beloved squid.

"Well, the name Giant seems rather inappropriate. But well, it's your squid." Fion laughed good-naturedly. "Poor Giant look seriously malnourished."

"I feed it all sorts of things at least three times a day." Sirius claimed and looked at the rather tiny looking squid. "It's probably homesick."

"I'm not surprised. You're treating it as if it's an experiment." Lily teased, carrying her suitcase down with Arabella and Stefanie at the back.

"I agree with Lily totally. Did you know what Sirius fed Giant for dinner last night??" Stefanie said, shaking her head. "Pizza toppings." 

"I don't know what his fave food is, so I'm just testing. Anyway Giant finished up the stuffs I fed it." Sirius said, not looking away from the small one feet tank, which Giant lives in.

"I must say it's very becoming of Sirius to take such _great_ care of Giant." James joked.

"I gotta get some seaweed for it. The tank look horrifyingly bare." Sirius said, apparently not hearing what James had just commented about him.

"Hey, I think you kids better get heading home soon. I shrunk your suitcases." Fion offered and shrunk all the suitcases to credit cards size and each of them took their respective 'card' and kept in their pockets.

"I better get going first." Remus said starting to look a little tired especially the full moon is only about two days away. "See you tomorrow." Remus whispered to Stefanie, who made her blushed a little. Lily and Arabella exchanged a knowing look while James and Sirius were too busy with their respective pets.

"Bye Remus, see you tomorrow at my place." James called out to Remus as he walked towards the fireplace. "Voldie, come here." James called Voldie the Chiwawa who was yapping around and running around, as if it knew that it was time to return.

"Lupin Villa." Remus said loud and clear and with a whoosh, he disappeared in the green flames.

"Hey, where's Remus??" Sirius suddenly called out upon looking away from his squid.

"He left already." Stefanie said. "Brother _dear_, are you ready to go home??"

"Coming." Sirius gathered his stuffs and poured the tank of water and squid into a plastic bag and hugged it before heading towards the fireplace.

"Let's go first." Lily said, holding onto Stefanie's right hand, Arabella holding her left. The three girls walked towards the fireplace.

"Three, two, one." Stefanie counted. "Black's Mansion." The three girls chorused and disappeared in green flames.

"Argh. They left without me." Sirius complained and went into the fireplace. "Bye Jamesie, bye Fion. Black's Mansion." In green flames, Sirius disappeared along with his precious squid tied in plastic bag.

"Hey James, get Voldie and return now. I get the house elves to clear up the mess." Fion told James. He carried Voldie in his arms and headed towards the fireplace. "See ya later then. Potter's Manor."

33333333333333333333

"Sounds cool." James commented after Dumbledore went into a lengthy detail on the process of learning apparation and why they had to master the skill before they even can graduate from Hogwarts.

"Can't wait to give it a try." Lily remarked.

"There would be a basic paper first, then an advanced paper before you can start apparating practical." Dumbledore told the six of them. "Here are a couple of books to read about it to prepare for the basic and advanced paper."

"What's the point for separating both the papers??" Sirius asked.

"The basic paper will be taken before you even start any practical. The advanced paper would be somewhere after the fifth practical. Remember, no practicing outside class. It's dangerous magic when not done properly." Fion warned. Since she was a freelancer, she volunteered to assist Dumbledore in managing their apparating lessons along with Professor McGonagall.

"No wonder." Arabella said, starting to flip the thick books in front of her.

"The test will be in three days time." Dumbledore said. "I don't expect anyone of you to fail. Then we'll have intensive trainings every day for three hours here. Fion, Minerva and myself would be here to guide you for the next twenty five days."

"That left us not much time for other activities." Remus commented.

"Daily practical will be from nine to twelve." Dumbledore instructed. "You six better get started in studying. Remember, I don't expect anyone to fail this test. It's _basic_." The six of them looked at one another with a rather horror-stricken face. It was only one day after they returned from their holiday and now they had to face something like this.

33333333333333333333

_Cccrackkk!!_

"Watch it!!" Fion called out to Sirius but was too late. James and Sirius fell down to the floor with their limps tangled together.

"What the hell are you trying to do by apparating on my _shoulders_??" Sirius untangled himself from James and stood up.

"I can't help where I want to apparate to. This room is too small." James commented and he stood up.

"Small is such an understatement." Lily said to Arabella who just apparated beside her from the other end of the room. The group was having their tenth Apparating practical lessons in Potter's Manor Drawing room with Fion on a sunny Saturday morning.

"James is used to _big_ rooms." Remus teased.

"Jamesie, my boy. This is one of the _biggest _and _emptiest_ room in your house in case you haven't notice that." Fion joked. The Potter's Drawing room was a big empty room with barely anything more than a sofa and carpet with a stretch of big windows.

"James, here I come!!" Sirius said and with a loud and prolonged 'crack', he apparated on James shoulders.

"Aaahhh!!" James apparated quickly with a loud 'crack' and ended up at the other side of the room knocking Remus over.

"Ouch!!" Sirius fell onto the hard floor butt down because James had apparated away.

"Guys!! Pay attention!!" Fion called out. Lily, Arabella and Stefanie were apparating together from one corner of the room to the next corner.

"We're experts at this. Look at me." James said and with a 'crack', he apparated onto the sofa lying down.

"Well, I'm equally good at it. If not, better than James." Sirius said and appeared sitting on James' stomach on the sofa.

"Ouch!!" James yelped. "Get your butt of-" Before James could finish his sentence, Remus apparated on James with his butt covering his face.

"Good job, Rem!!" Sirius and Remus high-fived with a struggling James below their buttocks. "Don't suffocate him with your fart."

"Good idea." Remus agreed. "But unfortunately I don't have the farty feeling."

"Awww." The three girls said from another corner of the room.

_Ccrackk!!_

"My two friends are trying to _kill_ me and you are standing here laughing." James said to Fion the moment he apparated beside her. Sirius and Remus now fell onto the sofa knocking onto each other and laughing away.

"Sorry, brother dear. I thought it was a good idea." Fion shrugged with a cheeky grin.

"When can we start apparating out of this room??" Lily asked after apparating in front of Fion.

"In one to two days time then we can apparate from room to room." Fion said as a matter-of-fact. "I think about ten more practical, you guys can go Ministry of Magic for the test."

"It's a pity that we can't apparate to school." Arabella spoke out.

"But at least next time we can apparate home instead of traveling the muggle way or via floo network." Stefanie added.

"One great thing about apparation is that we can travel faster than any other mean of transport." Lily commented.

"I can't agree with you anymore." Fion said whole-heartedly. "I try not to travel via floo network unless absolutely necessary."

"But the bad thing is that apparating require lots of stealth."

"That's the problem why you should never apparate unless you can concentrate fully." Fion warned them. "You don't really want the Accidental Magic Reversal Squad to come and help you now and then. I've friends there who told me about some of their regular 'customers'."

"Tell us about it."

"Nothing much actually. Just some people who do not heed their advice and apparate without concentrating fully. Hence, often appeared elsewhere without half their body." The six of them laughed at the thought of some half-bodied people. "It's not supposed to be funny especially if half the body at one continent and the other half at another. Finding it isn't the problem here. It's the combining the two parts together which is the difficulty."

"The Apparation Test Center should not give them the license in the first place."

"They passed the test. It's just that some people aren't concentrating hard enough. Partially also because of the great traveling distance. Apparating in this room isn't a problem. Try apparating to another room, somewhere which you can't see your landing."

"I can't wait to try that." James said with a cheeky grin.

"Neither can I." Sirius caught James eye and winked.

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"I'm tired." Lily commented and sat onto a large comfy armchair in their bedroom at the Black's Mansion. The six of them had been practicing their quidditch at Potter's Manor's Pitch for six hours.

"I bathe first then." Stefanie said and gathered fresh clothes from her wardrobe.

"At least we know we can get our Apparating License tomorrow." Lily remarked, re-energized.

"That's the good thing." Arabella said. "Then we can apparate to Diagon Alley next time."

"Yeah, school is starting in about three days time."

"Maybe we can apparate to King Cross on September first."

"Next one to the bathroom." Stefanie called out.

"That's fast." Lily said and gathered her stuffs to the bathroom.

"How are things going on between you and Remus??" Arabella asked suddenly.

"Everything's great!! Remus is really sweet and nice." Stefanie said in a dreamy tone.

"That's brilliant." Arabella said encouragingly.

"Can you tell me a bit of the future??" Stefanie hesitated but still asked.

"I tell you and Lils all I know tomorrow. After the test." Arabella said in a final tone of voice.

"Ok." Stefanie caught the hint and started preparing to bed.

"Next." Lily said, fetching her wand to dry her hair magically. Arabella went in next without saying much. "What's going on??" Lily mouthed to Stefanie.

"Talk tomorrow night." Stefanie mouthed to Lily and shrugged.

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"That was simple!!" James boasted arrogantly as they walked towards the fireplace at the atrium of Ministry of Magic.

"Yeah, because we were well-prepared." Lily pointed out. Professor McGonagall and Fion had been brilliant teachers for their apparation lessons although they were not fully trained but yet authorized.

"We're just brilliant students." Sirius boasted.

"Don't make your head swell even bigger. It's already ugly in this size." Arabella commented.

"Aww, baby, you're just jealous of our intelligence." Sirius teased. Stefanie and Remus were walking behind the group talking animatedly between themselves.

"Let's go to my place for another round of quidditch game." James suggested.

"Not again??" Lily said.

"It's such a brilliant sport." James said excitedly.

"It's probably the only wizard sport I know." Lily remarked.

"It isn't, but the others are nothing compared to quidditch."

"I've realized that."

"Hey Rem, are you coming with us??"

"Stef and I are going to Diagon Alley for a walk. Catch you guys later." Remus said and they headed towards another fireplace together and disappeared in the green flames.

"That left us." Sirius said in dramatic disappointment. "One of my best friends and my only sister eloped into a fireplace."

"Do you know that statement would sound really funny if you're a muggle??" Lily said laughing.

"It sounded perfectly normal to me." Sirius said.

"Well, to you and only you perhaps." James commented. "So where shall we go??"

"Let's go for quidditch." Sirius suggested

"Same sentiments exactly." James agreed

"Alright then." Lily agreed a little unwillingly and Arabella just shrugged and followed them into the fireplace.

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"So what was it that you wanna tell us tonight??" Stefanie asked Arabella.

"Ok, I shall summarize everything on what's gonna happen to each of us. But there's no way we can change the facts." Arabella said. The three girls had locked themselves in Stefanie's room and soundproofed it. Lily had put an anti-apparation charm in the room so no one could enter and hear their conversation.

"I'll become a squib." Arabella said simply.

"Why??"

"How??"

"Details not really important at this point." Arabella said and continued. "Lily, you and James will die someday by Volcano's unforgivable curses."

"I know."

"You two will have a son name Harry James Potter." Lily nodded because she already knew those stuffs.

"Stef, you'll be cursed and become an owl." Arabella said.

"Erm.. Ok." Stefanie said, not knowing how to answer.

"After a long cycle, you'll end up becoming Harry's owl." Arabella tried to make the whole thing sound more optimistic.

"Better than being dead." Lily said optimistically.

"I supposed so." Stefanie muttered.

"James will die on the same day as Lily. Sirius will suffer twelve years in Azkaban, two years as an escaped prisoner and die after that." Arabella said when Lily and Stefanie gave her a horrified look.

"He better not know about that." Stefanie said.

"He isn't taking it very well for the fact he's going to spend twelve years in Azkaban." Lily added.

"I'm not going to tell him about his fate of course." Arabella said. "Remus will become the DADA professor. I would get that post as well although I'm a squib." Arabella paused. "Basically that's the outcome of us in twenty years time."

"It sure doesn't sound good." Lily said darkly.

"There is only one thing till today I don't understand." Arabella said. "How Volcano is going to be destroyed."

"What do you mean??"

"There's going to be prophecies on his downfall over the years. But you know the children's story?? That's the oldest prophecy of all. I don't know how that's going to happen."

"You don't know then who know??"

"No idea either. Because I'm going to lose my seer powers soon, as well as magical ability."

"How??"

"You'll find out someday." Arabella said finally. The three girls stopped talking and just laid in the king-sized bed, not looking or talking until they drifted to sleep.

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"AHH!! We pass!!" Lily cheered happily.

"Hooray!!" Stefanie said, jumping in joy with Lily and Arabella.

"We can apparate legally!!" Arabella said as the three girls hugged one another.

"What's that outburst for??" James asked in bewilderment as the three girls were jumping up and down hugging one another. Six owls had just delivered their results as well as their license from the Ministry of Magic.

"So now we can apparate instead of boring old floo." Sirius said, putting his results aside.

"Well, since it's such a joyous occasion, why don't we apparate over to Diagon Alley for a change??" Remus suggested. They all agreed it was a good idea and the six of them apparated to Diagon Alley for the first time.

_Crack!! Crack!! Crack!!_

The six of them disappeared from Potter's Manor and appeared one after another at the entrance of Diagon Alley.

"That was fun." James said after he appeared with a 'crack'.

"Hey Stef, don't apparate so close to me." Sirius said and took a step back from his sister.

"Not that I want to apparate next to you, its coincidence." Stefanie said.

"It's really a great coincidence that you're my twin sister." Sirius said but Stefanie did not reply. The six of them started heading down towards Diagon Alley. The three boys had rushed off towards Quality Quidditch Supplies first because there was a new broomstick out not too long ago.

"Shall we go for ice-cream??" Lily suggested.

"Life's short, why not??" Stefanie said. They understood the meaning behind it and headed towards the _Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour_.

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"So this shall be our present for Lily this year??" James said as they stirred the cauldron of shimmery red liquid. The three boys were in James' bathroom on Friday morning concocting a potion, which they had intended to make it as their belated present for Lily when they returned to Hogwarts.

"It's a great idea, I must say." Remus agreed as they waited for the potion to cool and pour into a few glass bottles.

"It should be ready in about ten minutes time." Sirius checked the state of their potion and referred to the recipe. "When it turned to metallic red and cooled to the touch, we can transfer them over."

"I think she would love the present."

"Not everyone can get a present that last for a week."

"Well, we can make all our birthdays special this year since we got no more OWLs to worry about."

"Yeah, we barely played any major pranks last year."

"Only gotten like seventy detentions. Totally below Sirius' standard."

"Don't worry, we can make the birthday special. Lily first, then Bell, then Me, then Rem and finally you and Stef."

"Sounds cool."

"Did anyone hear some cracking sound from outside??" James whispered to his two friends.

"I think someone apparated into your room." Sirius said in a soft voice.

"I bet it's the girls. I go out and keep them off the bathroom while you two clear up this mess." Remus said and stood up.

"What a smart move." James said as he magically transferred the potion into four glass bottles and cleared up the mess with a wave of a wand.

"Don't put this in the bathroom. I don't know how to think if you use it." Sirius joked.

"We're going to use it anyway. Just hide it somewhere below the sink or something." James said as he kept the bottle as though it was toilet detergent below the sink.

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"Where are the guys??" Stefanie asked as the three girls apparated into James' bedroom and landed on his king-sized bed.

"What brings three gorgeous beauties here??" Remus asked the three girls who were sitting on James' bed at the moment.

"Read the papers and you know." Lily said and passed the paper to Remus as he read.

_THE RISING OF THE MOST FEARED DARK LORD_

_The Minster of Magic had confirmed that there was a dark wizard among us in the magical community. This Dark Lord, namely Lord Voldemort, had his first-ever killing spree. Over fifty muggles and a hundred witches and wizards were killed with the most feared Unforgivable Curse, the Killing Curse._

_"We met face-to-face and he had forced me to do his bidding which I've declined." Said Minster Harry Potter who had suffered some major injuries from the Wizard Duel with Voldemort himself. A team of Aurors had arrived before Voldemort and his Deatheaters could cause any more harm in the Ministry of Magic building._

_"We urge the magical community to remain alert and report any news regarding Voldemort and his Deatheaters as soon as possible." Head Auror, Jason Black advised the public._

"Volcano erupted." Remus said after reading the first two paragraphs. "It happened last night at the Ministry."

"What brings you girls here??" James asked as he apparated to Remus' side to read the papers. "Oh Merlin!!"

"What??" Sirius asked as he apparated to Remus' left side to read the papers. "Ooh."

"This is getting serious." James said to no one in particular.

"They had new laws as well." Lily added. "Go page ten to check."

Remus flipped to page ten after reading the headlines. There were about five pages regarding Voldemort and his killings.

_NEW LAWS ENFORCED_

_There would be new laws enforced to make sure certain charms and spells would never again be used. If one found guilty of using the forbidden magic, the highest punishment could be a year in Azkaban._

_First Law: The Invisibility Charm and Potion would be banned. If anyone caught using, the consequences would be at least six months in Azkaban. Only the Invisibility Cloak could grant invisibility because every cloak is registered with the Ministry._

"Now we're going to have some problems going to Hogsmeade." James commented.

"Well, it's a matter of time before it's get ban anyway." Lily said. "We're not supposed to know it in the first place."

"Are you trying to say you're the only one who is good at Charms??" James teased.

"I don't mean that." Lily said. "It was stated in those books that the usage of this charm is highly forbidden."

"I think it's about time we need to do something." Sirius said suddenly.

"What can we do??" Arabella said.

"We're here to get rid of Voldemort, aren't we??"

"Yes, but do you think we're that powerful to do so??"

"At least we can try??"

"And lose your life trying??"

"Then you mean we should sit down and wait??"

"I'm sure Dumbledore have something in mind already."

"Like what??" Sirius taunted Arabella but she kept quiet after that, not knowing what to say.

"We need to work together." James said, breaking the silence.

"Like how??" Lily asked.

"Wait till Dumbledore give his instructions." James said. "I trust he knows what he's doing."

"For once you're saying something right." Remus commented.

"I'm always right." James said.

"Your ego seems to be getting bigger." Lily commented.

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"Bell, are you alright??" Lily asked her friend out of concern.

"Well, in short, a lot of events will happen soon." Arabella said in a foreboding manner.

"Like what??" Stefanie asked, sounding a little fearful.

"Happiness is going to be short-lived now that the Volcano is getting in power." Arabella said in a hushed tone. "Look at the number of people he killed in one night."

It was the night before they returned to Hogwarts to start their sixth year. The usual excited school restarting feeling seems to be replaced with a dark and fearful one. The three of them laid in the bed in silence for a long time.

"Are you sleeping already??" Lily asked in a soft voice, which broke the silence between them.

"No, I'm thinking." Stefanie said.

"What about you, Bell??"

"Just seeing whatever I can see before I lose all the ability to do so."

Silence covered them once again, not knowing what to say. After what felt like hours, they finally drifted to sleep, not really looking forward to what might happen the next day.


	62. Not So Great Beginning

**Chapter 61: Not-So-Great Beginning**

"Am I being paranoid or is everyone looking rather glum around me??" Lily asked Arabella and Stefanie after the crossed over to platform nine and three quarters.

"I think everyone is fearful of what's going to happen." Stefanie said darkly.

"I'm not surprised. Anything might happen." Arabella commented grimly as the three girls carried their trunks over to the train.

"Where are the guys??" Stefanie asked.

"No idea. Let's board the train first." Lily suggested as she tugged her trunk along the crowded platform with her right hand and holding the Tinkerbell in her cage with her left hand.

"Luckily we don't have much belongings." Arabella joked, pulling her only trunk with her. Stefanie on the other hand, was pushing a trolley of two large trunks with her empty owl cage on top.

"And this is not even half of all your belongings." Lily teased Stefanie.

"Okok, I've too much necessities." Stefanie argued jokingly.

"Stef, there you are." A voice called out from the back.

"Where did you guys disappear to??" Lily asked.

"Nothing much. We were just mingling around." James said casually.

"Well, I doubt you guys are just mingling around." Lily commented. "Oh hi Pete, was wondering where are you."

"Hi girls." Peter said quietly. Stefanie and Arabella both replied with a short 'hi'.

"Let's get up faster and get a good compartment." James said and he led the way up with his trunk. Lily followed behind him and then Arabella.

"Let me help you." Remus offered and carried one of Stefanie's trunks along with his as he boarded the train after Stefanie's.

"Why do you always bring so many things??" Sirius asked Stefanie.

"They're necessities." Stefanie replied from the front.

"Look at my trunk." Sirius said, holding up his smaller but slightly bulging looking trunk. "Small and compact with all the necessities."

"Did you bring enough underwear to last the year??" Stefanie asked. Remus and Peter laughed at the joke.

"I brought the same amount as Remus and James." Sirius answered coolly. "Pete, you brought enough as well??" Peter nodded, grinning away. The four of them made their way quickly towards the last compartment to join James, Lily and Arabella who were already waiting inside.

"What took you guys so long??" James asked as they walked into the compartment with several trunks.

"Stef's luggage. Need any more details on its weigh??" Remus teased and earned a light slap on his hand from Stefanie.

"Understood clearly." Lily grinned.

"So are you guys gonna play any prank on the train this year??" Stefanie asked, changing the topic away regarding her heavy baggage.

"Definitely." James answered instantly.

"How can the Marauders _not_ play any prank at any opportunity??" Sirius said in a pretended shock.

"Oh yeah, how can we forget that??" Arabella remarked.

"Nothing major actually."

"I assume you guys are not going to tell us what is it??"

"Duh!! That spoils our fun."

"Whatever."

_Knock!!_

"Hey Lily, James, prefects in the prefects compartment." Jun called out.

"For what??"

"A tradition I supposed. The rest are there already."

"Be right there." Lily said, taking out her uniform and prefect badge from her trunk. "Thanks Jun." Lily took her stuffs and headed towards the toilet to change.

"Why are you changing here??" Arabella asked James who took off his shirt and put on his uniform.

"Why not??"

"No one really wants to see you change here." Stefanie added. James was already in his uniform and pinning the prefect badge on it.

"Then don't look at me." James said all ready to leave. "But you just can't resist my charms."

"Oh please, we're not like the other girls who fancy the Marauders." Arabella remarked.

"Are you sure about that??" Remus teased.

"Sure about what??" Lily asked, coming back from the toilet in her uniform, with the badge pinned. She dumped her folded clothes into her trunk quickly. "Ready to go??"

"Don't forget the prank. I join you guys if possible. Keep me informed via the mirror." James said, closing the door of the compartment behind him.

"What mirror??" Stefanie asked.

"It's a two-way mirror." Sirius took out a small square mirror from his pocket. "It came in a pair. We got it for so many years and you didn't know about it??"

"Since when??" Arabella asked, looking at the mirror but only saw her own reflection.

"Since young. We forgot all about the mirror when we came Hogwarts until last summer we found one side of the mirror in James' room. Then I went to find mine. And bingo, there they are." Sirius said excitedly.

"You mean the mirror Mr. Potter and Mrs. Potter gave you two when we were ten??" Stefanie asked in sudden realization.

"That's the one."

"Children's stuffs." Arabella commented.

"You're just jealous because you don't have any." Sirius taunted.

"Who says I'm jealous??"

"You admitted you are."

"Hello. Stop stop!!" Stefanie said, being the peacemaker between Sirius and Arabella.

"Ready for our prank??" Peter spoke up.

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"That's an interesting mirror." Lily commented, looking at the plain square mirror. "It reminds me of muggle walkie talkie."

"What's that??" James asked puzzled.

"Muggle device. I don't know how to explain either. Something like this mirror but can't see the other person. Only can hear." Lily explained in simple form.

"I see." James said. "Show me what is a walkie talkie next time??"

"Not everyone owns them actually. People like security guards or work in the same building or something." Lily explained. "Sirius, Sirius." Lily called the mirror.

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_Sirius!! Sirius!!_

"Who's calling me??" Sirius asked.

"Not me." Arabella said, looking up from her book and back again. Sirius turned to see Stefanie, who was engrossed in conversation and a game of wizard chess with Remus at the other side of the compartment. Peter had dozed off on his left.

_Sirius!! Sirius!!_

"Who's calling me??" Sirius looked up again. Once again, everyone ignored him totally. _The voice sounds familiar though. Sounds like Lily._

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"Sirius isn't responding. Are you sure this thing is working??" Lily asked James.

"It's working. We tested it before bring it along." James said, taking the mirror and keeping it in his pocket again.

"What's taking you two so long??" Penelope Patil, a seventh-year prefect asked teasingly.

"We don't know that we need to report here." James answered. "We didn't report here last year."

"We understand." Penelope laughed good-naturedly at the two sixth-years along with some other prefects.

"The Slytherins prefects are not here yet." Lily spotted out.

"Well, we don't bother if they are here or not most of the time." Lauren Lovegood, a seventh-year Ravenclaw prefect replied.

"Basically this compartment is solely for prefects only." Daniel Thomas told the fifth-year and sixth-year prefects who were in the compartment. "There's a crystal ball there which can look at all the compartments, making sure that the students are behaving themselves."

"And it's more spacious and comfortable than the normal compartments." Aloysius Goldstein, the seventh-year Ravenclaw prefect commented. He showed it by lying comfortably on one of the armchairs.

"We can just come here straight when we board the train right??" Eric Macmillan, fifth-year Ravenclaw prefect, asked.

"Definitely. It's pointless to carry the trunk all the way we can just dump it in here, right at the front of the train." Frank Longbottom, sixth-year Ravenclaw prefect, replied.

"Anyway we can practically sleep here." Jun Chang commented, lying leisurely on an armchair. There were around twenty-five armchairs in the huge and spacious room, which did not appear like a train compartment at all.

"Didn't know prefects can get such treatment." Lily commented.

"Yeah, if I know that, I would have come here last year." James said.

"And waste an opportunity of pranking in the train??" Lily teased.

"That reminds me." James muttered and took out the two-way mirror from the pocket.

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"James Potter!!" Lily yelled at James.

"What??" James said in pretended innocence.

"What was that thing that you throw at me??" Lily screamed.

"I didn't mean to throw at you. Mis-aimed you see."

"Yeah right, a likely story."

"If you don't believe me, what can I say??"

"Hand one over."

"If you can take one from me, then I give you one." James said, running at the opposite direction of Lily. There were screams around the train as the Marauders were throwing some smelly stuff at students around the train.

"What is that thing you threw at me??" Lily yelled from the back. It was impossible for Lily to catch up with James.

"Dung-cum-soot bomb!!" James said, running dramatically slow and laughed at the soot-covered Lily.

"You!!" Lily said. She pulled out her wand and yelled 'stupe-' and she suddenly remembered that James had the protection chain and the charm will likely rebounded back to her. There was no other choice besides chasing after him.

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"SIRIUS BLACK!!" Arabella screamed at Sirius who just threw a dung-cum-soot bomb at Arabella. Before she could say anything else, Sirius left the compartment with Remus and Peter, each holding a bag full of dung-cum-soot bombs.

"Bell, you certainly look, erm, black." Stefanie said, trying hard not to laugh at her furious friend who had a big patch of black soot covering the front of her shirt and some on her face.

"You're lucky that they didn't attack you because you're Remus' girlfriend." Arabella said, sounding less furious with the Marauders out of the compartment. "This thing stinks."

"I think they added some extra ingredients and charms onto the traditional dungbombs." Stefanie said, trying to clean off the soot on Arabella with magic but unsuccessful.

"They always do that. Water nor tissue nor magic is going to help. It would probably be around for who-knows-how-long." Arabella muttered, wiping the soot with her hand, which appeared to be stuck on her face permanently.

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"That was good huh." James told Lily. He had bombed all the prefects as well, not letting anyone off.

"Haha. Very funny." Lily said sarcastically. She could smell that her shirt and face stink from the dung-cum-soot bomb.

"You must admit that it was an ingenious idea of the Marauders to incorporate permanent sticky soot into the current dungbomb." James said feeling proud of himself. Lily ignored James and went to chat with Jun and some other prefects instead. "Hey, I'm talking to you."

"I don't want to talk to you." Lily called back monotonously and got into an animated conversation with Jun and Hazel Abbot, both prefect victims of James' bombing game.

"Whatever." James muttered under his breath and left the prefects' compartment to find the rest of his friends.

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"I don't believe you're going to ignore me for very long." James said before he climbed up a carriage at Hogsmeade Station. Lily went to join Arabella and Stefanie at another carriage instead.

"That jerky James. Look at this mess. And I stink." Lily said rather furiously.

"You're not the only one. That stupid Sirius." Arabella said angrily.

"Well, we have a rational Remus around." Stefanie joked, trying to make her two friends a little less angry.

"Remus and Peter aren't that bad. How dare that James and Sirius do something like that??" Lily said, frowning.

"Hm.. Why don't we have our nice little revenge??" Arabella said, suddenly having a smile on her face.

"Why do you suggest??" Stefanie asked curiously.

"If we tell you, you're bound to tell Remus." Lily said.

"I won't tell Remus until it's over. I promise." Stefanie said, holding up her right hand.

"Let's do something with their underwear." Arabella said.

"The old trick??" Lily asked, grinning away as well.

"Yes." Arabella smiled.

"Let's pretend that we're still angry with them. And do it tonight." Lily said.

"I'm not joining you two in this action. But promise you won't do on Remus." Stefanie requested.

"Don't worry, our targets are James and Sirius. We're not even touching Peter's." Lily assured Stefanie. The carriage came to a halt and they started heading towards the Great Hall together.

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"Didn't do anything to the Sorting Hat song this year??" Stefanie asked the three guys. Stefanie and Remus were sitting in the middle, separating Lily and Arabella with James, Sirius and Peter.

"No time to do anything this year." James said while the school population clapped their hands after the Sorting Hat finished singing.

"Argh, Sorting Ceremony again." Sirius muttered. "I'm starved."

"You're always the same year after year, even after finishing everything on the food cart." James teased. He took a quick glance at Lily who did not even bothered to look up at him at all. Part of him felt a little hurt that Lily was ignoring him but he pushed the thought aside and concentrated something else instead. "So Stef, glad that Remus didn't do anything on you??"

"Definitely." Stefanie replied. "He better not try." She took a quick glance at Lily and Arabella who were sitting beside her and concentrating on the Sorting Ceremony. The stench of dungbomb had vanished after the train-ride but the soot covered uniforms and faces remained on most people. The Slytherins had more soot on them than the rest, and as for Severus Snape, he was practically covered with soot for head to toe.

 "To all our new students, a warm welcome!!" Dumbledore said in a ringing voice with his arms stretched wide and a beaming smile on his lips. "And for our old students, welcome back to Hogwarts once again!! There is a time for speech-making, but now, it's time for food-eating!!" Food appeared instantly onto the five long tables and everyone tucked in and chattering excitedly.

"Ten galleons for Dumbledore going to announce something on Volcano later." Sirius said, with his mouth full.

"That's for sure." James said, helping himself to another serving of mashed potatoes.

This time it was rather quiet among the seven of them since Lily and Arabella were not on talking terms with James and Sirius. The Marauders talked among themselves while the three girls talked among themselves along with Samantha and Joey who were sitting next to them.

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"Well, that's the end of the splendid feast, I ask for a few moments of your attention for the usual start-of-term notices." Dumbledore said. "First-years, as well as some of the older students ought to remember that the Forbidden Forest is out-of-bounds." Dumbledore had turned to look at the Marauders as he announced. "Mr. Filch had asked me to remind you all that magic is not allowed in corridors in between classes and a whole list of other things which can be checked at his office door. One more thing." Dumbledore broke into a serious tone. "As you all know that Lord Voldemort is rising into power and he had been out killing the innocent." Dumbledore paused and the students quivered at the most-feared name of the wizard world. "Remember that regardless what happens, Hogwarts and I will always be there to help you. I believe that's all for the announcement today. Good night."

The students gotten up and started heading towards their respective towers. The prefects of various houses were controlling the crowd and leading them up the moving staircases.

"Follow us. This way." Lily said gently to the ten frightened looking first-years as she and fifth-year prefect Eileen Abercrombie led the way up towards the Gryffindor tower. The second-years to seventh-years were walking slowly behind them with the four other prefects following.

"The password is Evanesco." Penelope came forward to tell the password to the Fat Lady as well as announced to the fellow students.

"What's Evaniso??" A first-year asked boldly.

"Evanesco is a spell to clear up the mess." Lily explained patiently as she directed the first-years to the common room or briefing.

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"We're going to do Lily's birthday present tonight." Sirius told Remus and Stefanie. Arabella was walking ahead of them, deliberately ignoring Sirius.

"Bell, wait up." Stefanie ran in front to join Arabella. "The guys are doing Lily's birthday present tonight."

"Ooh."

"Guess ours have to wait then."

"Tell her that you're not into the mood of doing it tonight."

"Ok, no prob."

"So you girls keep Lily entertained tonight then." Remus came up to join the two girls leaving Sirius behind chatting with Peter.

"Leave that to us." Stefanie grinned and caught Arabella's eye.

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"Good night, Lils." James called out to Lily who went up the girls' dormitory without turning around at all. She had ignored him totally for the whole night and he was feeling a little strange not in talking terms with one of his best friends.

"Hey Lils, you're back!!" Arabella said with unusual enthusisium.

"Why do you sound so excited to see me??" Lily asked Arabella in surprised.

"Let's do it tomorrow. I'm too tired to do it tonight." Arabella said, letting a yawn out her mouth.

"Alright then. I'm quite tired too. Might as well." Lily said agreeing as she gather her stuffs and wait for Stefanie to get out of the bathroom.

"I'm next." Arabella said.

"Whatever." Lily said wearily. "You all can bathe first. Wake me up when you guys are done." Lily said as she sat on the floor next to her bed and dozed off almost instantly.

"That was fast." Joey commented as she dashed towards the bathroom before Arabella had time to react.

"So are you." Arabella called out and sat down to unpack her stuffs for a while.

"Hey Sam, mind waking me up earlier tomorrow??" Stefanie asked Samantha, who is always the first to wake up among the five of them.

"What's the occasion??" Samantha asked.

"Just wanna meet up with Remus before breakfast." Stefanie replied airily.

"No prob. I assume you want to bathe first??"

"Jeez, you guessed it." Stefanie said, looking sheepishly.

"Next." Joey said as she came out of the bathroom, taking a wand to dry her hair. Arabella followed up next after the three of them looking clean and smelling good.

"Hey Lils, wake up. You next." Joey shook Lily a little vigorously.

"Huh??" Lily muttered sleepily. "What??"

"You next for the bathroom." Samantha said, laughing good-naturedly at her roommate.

"Thanks." Lily got up and collected her clothes and headed to the bathroom.

"Just in time." Arabella said, coming out of the bathroom with her hair wrapped in a purple colored towel.

"Thanks." Lily stripped off her clothes and dumped it into the laundry basket and let the warm water rained upon her, emptying her thoughts. After a quick bit of shampoo and conditioner, shower gel and facial cleanser, she dried herself with a towel and put on fresh nightclothes.

"Good night everyone." Arabella greeted sleepily. With a quick exchange of good nights, they tucked in their bed with curtains drawn. Lily dried herself with her wand and climbed up her comfortable four-poster bed and fell asleep instantly.

_"Who are you??" Lily asked the stranger who was dressed in all black with the hood down._

_"You don't need to know who I am." The male stranger replied in a deep raspy voice._

_"Why can't I?? You appear in my dream."_

_"I come to your dream to take your soul with me."_

_"You can't do that." Lily shouted at the stranger._

_"I've the power to do that and more greater things." Lily felt her soul being sucked out._

Lily sat upright on her bed, cold sweat dripping from her forehead. _Phew, what a dream. _Lily thought to herself and laid down in bed again. Soon after, she fell into a deep dreamless sleep.


	63. Surprise! Surprise!

**Chapter 62: Surprise!! Surprise!!**

"Covered every single Slytherin??" Remus asked James and Sirius who just returned from their night out.

"You bet." James said with a yawn. "We've got a show to watch tomorrow."

"Did you remember to do it to the girls??" Sirius asked Remus and Peter.

"How can we forget??" Remus remarked. "We added extra dosage for Stef, Bell, Samantha and Joey."

"Wait till Lily see it tomorrow morning." Sirius said with a laugh.

"More likely wait till when everyone sees it." James said and climbed up his bed without bothering to wash up again.

"Don't forget to do on our own hair as well." Peter reminded the three.

"Remind us later." James said sleepily. Within several minutes, the four boys were sleeping soundly with the usual snores.

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"Hey Stef, wake up." Samantha shoved Stefanie gently on her bed. Stefanie stirred for a while before opening her eyes.

"Woooh!! That's early." Stefanie said a little hesitatedly.

"Do you wanna wash up first??" Samantha asked in a rather sleepy tone.

"Erm.. Sam, promise me that you won't scream no matter what happens." Stefanie said in an unconvincing tone.

"Why??" Samantha asked, suddenly a little more awake than before.

"You remember Lily's birthday??" Stefanie tried to bring up the conversation in a subtle manner.

"Yup. About ten days ago. Joey and I sent her a present via owl post." Samantha replied still blurred at the strange topic that Stefanie brought up in the wee hours of the morning.

"The Marauders are giving her their present today."

"Ah, then??"

"The present, well, is quite, erm, mass."

"Er, alright. And??"

"You and I are going to be part of the present."

"How??"

"Well, how is it going to be like having red hair for three days to a week??"

"Huh??"

"Okok, I'm going to be direct."

"Go ahead."

"In short, everyone is going to have red hair once their hair touch water."  
  


"What do you mean??"  
  


"The Marauders designed a potion which turn hair to a specific colour with some charms and who-knows-what inside with just a few drops on one's hair."

"You mean my hair is going to turn red the moment I wash it??"

"Yes. But it's not permanent. It will only last one week if you wash your hair normally. If you wash it over and over again, attempting to wash the red color off, it will get brighter and brighter until you reach something like, neon red??"

"Er, alright. So it's just a warning??"

"Yes, I don't want you to get it as a shock or something."

"That's why you want to wake up and inform me about it??"

"That's right."

"Thanks. I tell Joe when she's up."

"Thanks. Let me sleep for another ten minutes." With that, Stefanie dropped back to her pillow and fell asleep once again. Samantha gathered her uniform and headed towards the bathroom to wash up.

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"Aaaaahhhhhhh!!"

"My HAIR!!"

"WHAT HAPPENED TO MY HAIR?!?"

"Who did this??"

"Who made my hair red?!?"

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"WAKE UP!!" Arabella and Joey were shaking Lily vigorously. All of them had already washed up although it was still quite early for breakfast. Lily, on the other hand, was still sound asleep, totally undisturbed by the chaos going around the school. That had been screams and shouting coming from various levels of both Gryffindor boys' and girls' dormitories. Needless to say, there were much more coming from the other houses' towers.

"Five more minutes." Lily said sleepily as she covered her head with a pillow using her free hand.

"You better wake up now!!" Joey called out and continued shaking Lily, making sure that there was no possible way Lily could fall asleep again.

"What's the hurry??" Lily muttered sleepily as she sat upright still with her eyes shut.

"Open your eyes." Samantha ordered.

"Ah." Lily opened her eyes, took a quick glance at her roommates and drop backwards again.

"Wake up!!" Joey pulled Lily upright again. Arabella started tickling Lily sides.

"AAHHH!!" A sharp piercing scream escaped from Lily's mouth.

"That was brilliant." Stefanie praised jokingly.

"AAHHH!!" Lily saw her roommates and got into a shock. "I must be dreaming."

"You're not." Stefanie said, trying not to laugh. Arabella, Stefanie, Joey and Samantha were now 'redheads'. They had a similar shade of flaming red hair with Lily.

"What happened to your hair??" Lily asked in amusement.

"It's a birthday present for you!!" Stefanie said.

"Oh my gosh!!" Lily gushed. "Thank you so much!!"

"Bet you thought we have already given you the present." Arabella said.

"You did. Look at my anklet." Lily held her leg up to show her silver anklet, which play the tune Sundial Dreams whenever she requested it to.

"This present is from the Marauders." Joey said as she dragged Lily out of bed and shoved her into the bathroom.

"Thanks." Lily barely spoke when Joey closed the door of the bathroom.

"Why are you out again??" Samantha asked Lily as she walked out of the bathroom after a second behind the closed door.

"I have yet to gather my uniform." Lily took her uniform from the trunk and her wand from the bedside table and headed to the bathroom again. "Wait for me. Be right out!!"

"Ok, you've only five minutes." Joey called out.

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"This look really strange." Lily said as another three third-Gryffindors with various shades of red hair walked passed her in the common room.

"But it was good." Stefanie commented. "Look at the first and second-year guys, they didn't bathe this morning." Samantha and Joey had already left for breakfast, leaving Lily, Arabella and Stefanie waiting for the Marauders at the common room.

"Are we still planning the old trick with James and Sirius??" Arabella whispered to Lily.

"Er, depends on my mood I supposed. I must say I'm really touched and impressed by their present." Lily spoke as she looked around the room, checking out the new color hairstyle or the unwashed hair.

"Did anyone just mention the word impressed??" A male voice called out.

"I did, for your information." Lily admitted with a tone of defiance.

"Ooo, you must be really _impressed_ when you use that word." James said in a kidding manner.

"I'm really _impressed_ by the Marauder's way of presenting a gift." Lily said jokingly, apparently forgiving James. Arabella shot her a look but Lily did not catch her eye.

"Well, the Marauders _are impressive_. Did you just realize it today or what??"

"I think I only realize you guys are indeed impressive today." Lily and James were talking animatedly once again like the good old days.

"Do you two want to talk the whole day away and skip our breakfast and first day of lesson??" Remus called out. The five of them were already exiting from the tower.

"Might as well skip school and get married." Sirius added and the five of them started laughing.

"Hey, wait up." Lily called out and ran across the common room towards her friends, apparently not hearing Sirius' remark. "Don't leave me alone with the egomaniac!!"

"What do you mean by calling me egomaniac??" James said, sounding rather offended.

"Just joking." Lily said sweetly. "By the way, nice hair color you got there." All of them laughed at the joke. James' usual messy black hair was now fiery red in color but still messy as always.

"Well, at least we only have it for a couple of days, unlike you, stuck with it for life." James teased and Lily chased after him, attempting to beat him up physically instead of using magic.

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"I see the usage of a very advanced charm which I did not thought was possible for a fifth year." Professor Flitwick squeaked from the front of the class. It was their first lesson of the day and the whole Gryffindor class was having Charms. They had selected seven subjects, which were required to become an auror. "This charm, known as the combination of temporary but irreversible charm and color changing charm-"

"I thought you're lousy at Charms??" Lily turned back to ask James who was sitting behind her.

"I am still lousy at that. Who said that I was the one who did the charm??" James said, pretending to listen very attentively to Professor Flitwick.

"-designed the one and only invisibility charm. Unfortunately it was banned by the Ministry last summer due to illegal usage to trespass the Ministry." Professor Flitwick droned on and on. According to syllabus, they were supposed to learn the invisibility charm during somewhere in sixth year. "So we shall start on the camouflage charm. It's very similar to the disillusionment charm you learnt last year but with some differences-"

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"James!!"

"Sirius!!"

"Remus!!"

"Peter."

The Marauders turned around to take a look at whoever was calling them across the corridors.

"Hi girls." Sirius said coolly. Remus and Peter gave a polite smile while James just ignored them because he found the three Hufflepuff girls plain irritating.

"You guys are really brilliant to come up with a prank like this." Prue squealed.

"Actually it was a birthday present from us to Lily." Remus said before Sirius started on his conversation with them again. The three Hufflepuffs had been finding opportunities to talk and get to know the Marauders again and again.

"That's really sweet of you guys." Piper piped in. "We would _love_ a birthday present like that too."

"We-" Sirius started speaking but James cut in.

"We only give birthday presents for our _special_ friends." James said, looking clearly annoyed at the three Hufflepuffs who were disturbing them from going for their lunch.

"We simply would love to get to know you guys better so we can-" Phoebe said in a higher pitch of voice.

"Sorry girls, we need to go for our lunch now." Remus said politely and the four guys started walking briskly towards the Great Hall.

"We're going for our lunch too." Prue said and the three girls hurried to join them once again.

"Someone do the disillusion charm." James muttered to the group.

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"Where are the guys??" Stefanie asked Lily. They had just finished their first Defense Against Dark Arts lesson and Arabella was called to stay back for a short while by Professor Plain.

"No idea." Lily said indifferently as both girls were standing outside the classroom waiting for Arabella. Most of the students had cleared and gone for their lunch break.

"What's going on between you and James??" Stefanie asked suddenly.

"Huh?? What??" Lily was caught in surprised by that question again.

"I was asking what's-"

"I know what you're asking. Well, obviously nothing."

"Are you sure?? He seems interested in you."

"Well, that's what you think. I'm quite happy with the way we are now. I can't imagine dating someone as egoistic as him." Lily said defensively. "I know I had a crush on him way back in first year and it was on for several years. But somehow-"

"You remembered you liked him when you're in first year??"

"Yeah, sort of. Anyway I-"

"You regained your memory??"

"I don't know about that. It just popped out I supposed."

"That's really brilliant."

"I don't think it's anywhere that brilliant actually. It's no big deal."

"To James, it's a big deal."

"Nah, doubt so. Anyway what do you think Professor Plain is talking about with Arabella??"

"I don't know. Grades??"

"I wonder how long is she going to take. I'm getting kinda hungry."

"You're always hungry."

"I'm still growing."

"Hey Bell, what happened??" Stefanie asked Arabella the moment she stepped out of the classroom. Arabella had an indescribable shocked and stunned and yet ecstatic expression.

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"Lily, can you spare a moment??" Three Hufflepuffs approached Lily, Arabella and Stefanie.

"Yes??" Lily asked them politely. The three girls eyed Arabella and Stefanie with a look of disagreement.

"Can we talk privately??"

"Hey, I see you guys soon." Lily told Arabella and Stefanie and then turned to the Hufflepuffs again. "Yes, what??"

"What is your relationship with James??"

"What??"

"You didn't hear me clearly??"

"I don't mean that. Anyway there's nothing going on between me and James."

"What did you do to make the Marauders give you such a birthday present??"

"Nothing at all. We're just friends."  
  


"He said that you're special."

"Huh?? Can't be. I believe the Marauders will give something to Arabella and Stefanie as well on their birthday."

"What seductive spell did you use on him??"

"I didn't use any spell or charm or potion."

"It's only between you and us."

"What's between you and Lily??" A male voice called out. There was no one at the corridor except the four girls.

"Who's that??" Prue called out, looking left and right.

"That us." The Marauders suddenly reappeared from nowhere along with Arabella and Stefanie.

"What are you doing with Lily??" James asked the three Hufflepuffs threateningly.

"Nothing at all. We're just chatting." Prue said sweetly.

"What did they try to do to you??" James asked Lily.

"Nothing. What would they do to me??" Lily said, puzzled at the strange situation.

"You heard her. We didn't do anything." Phoebe retorted.

"I warn you three. If you dare to bully Lily, Stefanie or Arabella, the Marauders will not let you off." James threatened and turned his back on the three girls.

"Let's go." Remus said and the seven of them turned towards the Great Hall.

"What's going on??" Lily asked.

"Ignore those three. They meant harm." Stefanie told her.

"Why??"

"They're jealous of us being friends with the Marauders. They did that to me somewhere last year when I was getting too close to Remus in their opinion."

"Oh, I see."

"They asked me about James and I thought it was outrageous." James wanted to say something when Remus stopped him. "Anyway I'm famished, aren't you??"

"Yes, we're. Bell, can you tell us what happened in the classroom just now??" Stefanie asked.

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"Oh Merlin!!" Sirius said in shocked.

"It's both good and bad news." Stefanie remarked. Arabella had just told them briefly about what happened in the classroom with Professor Plain.

"It seems so unreal." Arabella admitted. Professor Plain had called her in to tell her that she was her biological mother. "It didn't strike me as that since she denied it last year."

"She has her reasons for doing everything." Lily added.

"I understand fully, but I'm afraid bad things might be happening soon enough. She knows."  
  


"What bad things??" Sirius asked.

"It's quite depressing to know. Let just keep it a mystery until it happens." Arabella said pessimistically but her eyes seemed to be shiny, with either tears of sadness or joy. Lily and Stefanie exchanged a look; both of them know some of the dismal facts.

"We're having Potions next." Peter spoke up suddenly.

"We're only left with three minutes to be at Porky's Dungeons!!" Sirius shouted. The seven Gryffindors grabbed their book bags and made a dash towards their next lessons in great hurry.

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"Late for the first lessons." Professor Porky remarked. "Five points off to Gryffindor for each latecomers." The seven of them kept quiet because if they ever speak, they would lose more points for Gryffindor than they can earn them with Quidditch.

"I can't wait till the end of the lesson already." James mumbled to himself rather loudly.

"Five points off for Potter. I did not allow you to speak." Professor Porky barked. "This is the procedure for preparing the enlargement potion." James kept quiet as he clenched his fists. "You may get started now."

The class started preparing and adding the ingredients into their cauldron. The class was in total silence besides the chopping sounds and bubbling liquid.

"Black, are you sure you had added all the ingredients in the correct order??" Professor Porky barked. Sirius' cauldron was shimmering red in colour while most of their cauldrons were blue.

"I believe I did."

"Read Step eight again." Sirius re-read but did not realized what he had forgotten.

"Did you notice your error??" Professor Porky said coldly.

"No, I didn't."

"Ok, we shall tell when you add it to your pet." Sirius shuttered at the thought of Giant suffering. Giant was swimming in the small one feet tank at the side of the classroom along with pets from the other students. Professor Porky continued his rounds in the class, spotting the tiniest mistake any student made, and smirking away whenever one of the Gryffindors made any.

"Time's up." Professor Porky barked. The students took their pets and dropped two drops of their potion on their pets. Immediately, their pets started enlarging till three times of it original size.

"This is brilliant." Sirius was saying as Giant was enlarging to more than three times of its original size and was still growing.

"Black, did you realize the mistake you made??"

"No, I didn't. I _found_ a new potion."

"You did not _discover_ this potion. The ingredient you forgot was used to control the size of the animal being enlarged. Twenty points off Gryffindor for being imprudent and not following instructions." Professor Porky barked as he gave out the antidote for the potion. Within five minutes, Giant had grown to about twenty times of its original size and occupied a big portion of the classroom.

"The antidote is not working." Sirius called out behind Giant. The minuscule squid was now so gigantic that it blocked Sirius from the rest of the classroom.

"Bring the squid and release into the lake immediately." Professor Porky barked as Sirius pulled Giant along with him and left the dungeon classroom.


	64. Real Identity

**Chapter 63: Real Identity**

"What's that??" Lily asked Arabella and Stefanie who were beside her.

"Huh?? The guys playing with the gigantic Giant??" Stefanie replied. The Marauders were now swimming in the lake playing with Giant. It was their first Saturday since school reopened. They had gathered outdoors by the lake to get some sun and fresh air. Ever since Sirius' squid was released into the lake five days ago, barely anyone dared to go near the lake because Giant, for the first time, looked dangerously huge.

"I meant that." Lily pointed to the far end of the lake where something that looked like an underwater carriage submerged on the lake surface and moved towards Hogwarts. An old man with white hair walked out from the carriage, holding a powerful looking trident instead of a wand.

"Probably Dumbledore's friend. He looked old enough." Stefanie commented. 

"Anyway how's everything between you and Professor Plain??" Lily turned to Arabella who had remained silent throughout the entire conversation.

"Huh??" Arabella got out from her daze. "Nothing much. A little mother-daughter talk I supposed."

"You know you can tell us." Stefanie touched Arabella's hand gently.

"Thanks." Arabella said. "I just don't know how she could block the part about her being my mother. I should be able to see it. But I didn't."

"Why don't you ask her??" Lily suggested.

"I did. But she said time will tell." The Marauders came out of the water dripping wet and headed towards the three girls who were sitting underneath the tree throughout.

"Done with your swimming??" Stefanie asked.

"Not yet. Going to continue after this." With that, James hauled Lily up to his right shoulder, Sirius picked Arabella up and rest on his shoulder while Remus carried Stefanie in front.

"What are you trying to do??" Lily struggled. "Put me down!!"

"Don't worry." James said. "I'll let you down soon enough."

"What are you trying to do??" Arabella shouted into Sirius' ear.

"Remind me to put on the Anti-Noise charm next time when I carry you." Sirius said as he jerked Arabella a little and she screamed.

"Don't do that." Stefanie warned Remus.

"It's too late." Remus grinned. The three guys threw the girls into the lake at the shoreline.

"AAHHH!!" The girls screamed and picked themselves up and chased after the Marauders in the water and splashing them. Giant joined in the fun by lifting them up one by one.

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"Miss Evans, Dumbledore would like to have a word with you in his office after dinner." Professor McGonagall told Lily when she walked passed the Gryffindor table. Dumbledore was absent from the staff table for dinner for that evening.

"What happened??" Stefanie asked.

"I don't know." Lily said in a worried tone.

"Do you think it have anything to do with the visitor today??" Arabella spoke.

"Tell me please." Lily begged.

"You will know soon enough." Arabella smiled, flashing one of her rare smiles lately.

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"Twisties." Lily said to the gargoyle. It began to turn and move upwards and stopped in front of Dumbledore's office.

"Come right in." Dumbledore called out before Lily even knocked the door.

"Professor, you wanted to see me??" Lily asked politely. She was surprised that there was a stranger in the room with Dumbledore.

"Take a seat, Lily." Dumbledore said fatherly. Lily sat down at the chair next to the white-haired stranger. "This is King Triton from the Undersea City of Atlantica."

"Er.. Nice to meet you, King Triton." Lily said respectfully, not knowing how to behave in front of someone who was called a king.

"Hi Lily, it had been a long time." King Triton said, inspecting Lily, making her feeling a little uncomfortable.

"Sir, do I know you??" Lily asked in bewilderment. Strangely, she felt a sense of familiarity with this stranger.

"Yes, I'm your father."

"Huh??" Lily was shocked at what the stranger had just said. She turned towards Professor Dumbledore. "Professor, what is this all about??"

"Lily, listen to his explanation." Professor Dumbledore just smiled.

"Let me start right from the beginning." King Triton explained. "Sixteen years ago, at the Undersea City, where you were born. You were the first mermaid in the merpeople lineage to be born with legs. We knew you were different from us, but did not understand how different you were. So in order to protect you from evil, your mother and I brought you to shore. Perhaps it was fate or destiny, we apparated to this muggle hospital Gleneagles, and overheard some muggle doctors talking about a baby girl who was in critical condition in the hospital. We followed them and went to this strange room with many muggle devices. The very tiny baby girl who was lying in the container looked just like you with the same bright red hair. Your mother and I did a very selfish thing; we switched the two of you. Then we altered those muggles' memory and left you there all alone with all the strangers."

Lily was astonished to hear all those. It all sounded so far-fetched and unbelievable. She was so shocked that she was unable to speak. _I'm a mermaid?? Unbelievable._

"We brought the baby girl home and charmed her to make her look like a mermaid. She took your title of Princess Ariel and we doted on her as if she was our own daughter. But unfortunately she was weak and sickly and died at a tender age of ten." King Triton spoke will bitterness. "Then your mother passed away not long after. In her deathbed, she wanted me to find you, no matter how long it takes, and I need to find you. Since then, I tried every possible mean to find you. From the hospital to Hogwarts, and finally last month, I had news of you."

"B-but that's not possible." Lily stammered.

"Why not??"

"I mean, how could I be your daughter??"

"I think you are. You look exactly like your mother." King Triton took out a seashell shaped locket and opened it. A very pretty lady with red hair and green fishtail floated out.

"I-I don't know-" Lily gasped. The lady looked just like herself except for the green colored fish tail. She was wearing a very pretty star shaped pendant with two orbital rings framing the silver star-shaped pendant in the center. "How could that be possible??"

"You're born special. In your very own way." King Triton said. "Your mother had told me that I need to find you, to deliver this pendant to you by your sixteenth birthday."

"Erm.. I don't know what to say." Lily was speechless.

"Can I just wear this for you?? I know I hasn't play my part as a father to you." King Triton said with a tone of sadness. Lily held up her hair for him to put the pendant on. "This is not any normal pendent, it can protect you."

"I won't. Thank you. It's beautiful." The silver pendent glistened in the dimmed lighting in Dumbledore's office.

"I have heard about Mr. and Mrs. Evans death and I'm truly sorry about it. If you don't mind, I would welcome you to join us in the Undersea City of Atlantica anytime you like. It's your home, Princess Ariel"

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"Oh my god!!" Stefanie exclaimed. "You're a princess!!"

"That's really brilliant. It's a gorgeous necklace." Arabella gushed.

"I don't know. It came to me as a shock." Lily admitted. The three girls were hiding the Room of Requirement that they stumbled across it unknowingly. The Marauders knew about the room and had told them about it before as well.

"Princess Ariel, a mermaid, though incredible but it's the truth." Stefanie said good-naturedly. The girls needed a cozy room for three where they can be away from the other people.

"He told me I could go via the lake in Hogwarts. The Merpeople there knows the direction to the Undersea City of Atlantica."

"Sounds so cool."

"I really don't know what to say." Lily confessed. "The whole thing seems so magical and fascinating. I believe it, but felt a little hard in accepting the facts."

"I understand how you feel." Arabella disclosed. "Don't forget that my mother just acknowledged me a couple of days ago. And I've known her for the last five years not knowing her true identity."

"It's getting quite late, I believe." Stefanie said. The three girls had been in the room after dinner. They had completed all their homework for the week and had a free weekend ahead.

"Can we just stay here for the whole weekend until Monday??" Lily asked. "I don't feel like facing anyone. I need time to digest and some peace would definitely help."

"Well, we need food to last us throughout." Stefanie said. Instantly a table for three appeared before them, served with the food they desired to eat most.

"I'm starting to really love this room." Arabella said, eating her Sweden meatballs.

"So do I." Lily agreed and helped herself with the creamy chicken linguine.

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"Where have you all gone for the whole weekend??" Joey asked Lily, Arabella and Stefanie as they walked into the dormitory on Sunday night.

"We were hiding at one of the rooms in the castle." Lily casually said.

"Did something happen??" Samantha asked with a tinge of concern in her voice.

"Nothing much actually, just that we needed some peace." Arabella said. "It's not because of you or Joey, please don't be mistaken. It's just that things had happened and we just needed a place to sort things out."

"Alright. I hope everything is fine now." Samantha said smiling.

"Thanks for understanding." Stefanie said gratefully. The three of them had always appreciated their roommates for that, understanding and not much of questioning.

"Can I borrow your Charms homework for reference?? I don't think my essay on camouflagy charm was good enough." Joey said humbly. She was nearly always second or third the level for most of the subjects along with Samantha.

"Sure, it's on the desk. Help yourself." Lily pointed at her desk where a small mountain of parchments stood with her quills and ink.

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"The next person who will find his identity will be Sirius." Arabella said suddenly as the three girls were walking together for their first lesson on Monday after breakfast.

"Sirius??" Stefanie repeated. "What do you mean by his identity??"

"He is related to you, but he is not your twin. He's your cousin."

"But our – my parents never told us anything."

"That's because even they themselves do not know anything about it."

"What do you mean??"

"Leave it for Sirius to tell the story."

"Ok, at least when will that happen??"

"Before the end of this year."

"Who will be the one to tell him??"

"Your father."

"Why??"  
  


"It's your family kind of thing. I believe you never met anyone from your father's side of the family line."

"Now that you mentioned it. Wonder why??"

"Because he was disowned from the family." Arabella said grimly. "He will only tell Sirius the day before he go out fighting against Voldemort."

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"I wonder how Sirius will digest the facts that he's going to hear soon enough." Stefanie commented. The Marauders were now lying on the grass beneath their favorite beech tree on the edge of the lake. Severus Snape was wondering aimlessly around the lake not too far away from them.

"Oh no!!" Lily shrieked. "The guys are going to do something with Snape again."

"History will repeat itself." Arabella said breezily. Snape's pathetic life was definitely not one of her major concern at the moment.

"What history you mean??" Lily asked.

"Don't tell me is the one after our OWL last year??" Stefanie asked. The setting was rather similar with that day to some extent.

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"Look, our dear old _Snivellus_ is here again." Sirius grinned cheekily.

"He still dares to come here after what we did to him last year." Remus said, shaking his head.

"Why don't we do it again??" Peter suggested.

"Good idea." James said as he stood up and set off across the grass towards Severus' direction.

"Wait for me." Sirius called out to James. Remus and Peter followed them as well, just in case James and Sirius might play too far.

"Yo, Snivellus." James called out to Severus. He turned and gave the Marauders a cold look, as though he had been expecting an attack.

"What do you want??" Severus asked coolly.

"Surprise that you still dare to come here after what happened last year." Sirius said, literally barking with laughter as he remembered what had happened.

"Expelliar-" Severus shouted but unfortunately too slow. James had already knocked him off his feet and sent his wand flying off to some bush since he was able to do wandless magic.

"You-" Severus stared at James with an expression of purest loathing. "Just you – wait!!"

"Wait for what??" James said laughing. Severus was cursing and swearing at James but nothing happened because he wand was a good four meters away from him.

"_Scourgify_!!" Sirius said and blue soapy bubbles streamed out of nowhere and the froth was covering Severus' body bit by bit.

"Leave him alone!!" A female voice shouted.

"Oh, not again." James muttered.

"Yes, not again. Stop your childish act now." Lily said crossly.

"Hey, we're just having fun." Sirius spoke.

"Ok, after this." The next moment, Severus was hanging upside-down in the air with his robes falling over his head to reveal his pale skinny legs and a pair of well-worn brown underpants.

"Stop it!!" Lily repeated impatiently.

"Count you lucky to have Lily her to save you again and again." James let Severus down and the next moment he was back standing on his feet again.

"It's time to buy some new underpants." Sirius called out to the retreating Severus who had obviously ignored his remark.

"Can't you guys stop bully the poor Severus again??" Lily said irritably.

"We do need entertainment sometime, you know." James said, sounding a little too high and mighty.

"And your entertainment is based on other's embarrassment??"

"It's not our fault that Severus existed for us to do that to him."

"Since when and how is it his fault?? He didn't do anything to you."

"He called you the m-word and another thing is we simply can't stand his presence."

"I'm not bothered by it and you're so concerned, huh??"

"It's not that I'm concern or what. He's just unpopular."

"People can't help being unpopular in case you didn't know that."

"Do you know how conceited and arrogant you're getting these days??"

"I'm not. I just have confident in myself."

"Too much confidence until you're so stuck-up."

"It's not my fault that I'm popular since you already said some people can't help being unpopular."

"Well, and the more you shouldn't dwell on his unpopularity."

"I'm just making him more recognized than the way he already is."

"You know what?? I hate you now, egomaniac!!" Lily turned on her heel and walked away without turning back.

"What did I do to offend her??" James said furiously as he turned and walked away in the opposite direction of Lily.

"I wonder how did both of them ever get married in the first place." Remus said shaking his head.

"First it was you and Sirius, and now Lily and James." Stefanie commented.

"Life is short!! I need to do a lot of things before I get sent to Azkaban for twelve years." Sirius said as if torturing Severus was a must to do.

"Yeah!! And after you're sent there, you become a fugitive for two years and die." Arabella said, getting rather pissed with Sirius for his haughty attitude.

"Ok, so I'm going to have a horrible life. The more I should live it now."

"You probably wouldn't be as happy in the near future."

"Why not??"  
  


"Because you will learn facts that you don't want to believe."

"Like what??"

"It will be for you to find out."

"Why don't you just tell me directly and not be so wishy washy??"

"I'm in no position of telling you that."

"What you mean??"

"I don't know how to explain."

"Do you know how silly you're sounding??"

"Who are you calling silly??"

"Did you hear me talking to anyone now??"

"You think you're smart, is it??"

"I don't think I'm that smart, but since you said so, I can't deny that fact."

"Stop being so big headed, idiot."

"So now I'm the idiot??"

"You're such an idiot!!" Arabella and Sirius were shouting insults and bickering rather seriously in front of the lake. Most of the students had shunned the quarreling duo because they knew that both of them would start hexing people if they were interrupted.

"Do you think we should just leave or stop them??" Stefanie asked Remus and Peter who were eyeing both of them.

"I think we should spend some quality time together." Remus whispered to Stefanie, which made her blush. Then he turned to Peter. "Pete, do you mind if you head back to the tower first??" Peter nodded and turned back towards the castle.

"Egomaniac!!"  
  


"Bimbo!!"

"Big-head!!"

"Fatso!!"

"Idiot!!"

"Loser!!"

"I predict that they're going to get violent soon." Stefanie told Remus. There was no need for whispering because there was no way Arabella or Sirius to lose concentration of each other whenever they were in the midst of an argument.

"Let's go in. We can always go to the Room of Requirement or something." Remus grinned. He held out his hand for Stefanie to grab.

"Crazy!!"

"Mad!!"

"Ugly!!"

"Pimply!!"

"Let's go." Remus and Stefanie left the squabbling two and returned to the castle.

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_Why did I fancy him in the first place?? That arrogant, stuck-up, conceited, snobbish jerk!! Make my blood boils. Torturing Severus as if he was a rag doll. I hate him. _Lily thought angrily as she walked across the grass towards the castle. _There's nothing better than a good afternoon sleep. Too many things had happened and so many things are going to happen._

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_What on earth is she thinking about?? Shouting at me for no reason!! It wasn't like this is the first time we're disturbing Snape for fun. She had joined us several times before and now she's trying to be nice and everything. Yeah, to keep her Prefect badge. That must be the case. _James thought angrily as he marched towards Hagrid's hut. _I need some peace._ James stopped and turned away. _There was no way I can get some inner peace with Hagrid and Fangs. Where can I go?? _James stood rooted to the ground for a moment. _Yes, the Room of Requirement._


	65. Bad News

**Chapter 64: Bad News**

"Mate, deflate your ego a bit and apologize to Lily." Sirius commented as the three guys walked towards the Whomping Willow for their monthly animagus transformation.

"It's not my fault to start with." James said stubbornly. "So why should I apologize??"

"Lily is quite headstrong as well." Peter commented to no one in particular.

"What happen when two stubborn people come together??" Sirius joked.

"Head crash??" Peter answered anyhow.

"Nah." Sirius replied. "Marry is the word." Both Sirius and Peter burst into laughter.

"Haha. Very funny." James remarked dryly.

"Let's hurry up. Don't keep Moony waiting." Sirius said as he transformed into a big black dog once they were out in the dark school grounds. James and Peter did their transformation as quickly as possible shortly. Peter dashed through the moving branches of the Whomping Willow to freeze the tree and the three of them slipped swiftly into the tunnel.

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"What are those animals that slipped underneath the Whomping Willow??" Lily asked Arabella and Stefanie. The three girls were hanging out in Gryffindor common room. The Marauders absence had made the common room a more peaceful and pleasant place for most students.

"There's nothing out there." Arabella took a quick glance at the Whomping Willow. "Are you sure you're not hallucinating or something?? That place leads to, you know where. And no one else knows about it besides us."

"I strangely thought I saw a stag and dog going down the tunnel. The tree seems to stop moving for them to enter."

"You're going nuts. It's only the third week of school, my dear."

"I'm not stressed up or anything. I know I saw something. The question is what is it."

"I think the answer is go and sleep."

"Bell!!"

"Lils!!"

"Bell, I think it's time Lily should know about it." Stefanie spoke up suddenly.

"You know it as well??"

"What's going on?? And why are you hiding from me??"

"James, Sirius and Peter are animagi." Stefanie whispered to Lily's ear.

"W-what??" Lily was surprised. "It's not an easy thing to master."

"They had mastered it and even perfected it without any guidance."

"How come you two know about it??"

"I don't know about Bell, but Remus told me about it."

"I can _see_ the future. I already knew this was going to happen back in first year."

"Argh.. I'm the last to know."

"It doesn't matter, right?? James is your enemy and why would you want to know stuff about him??"

"Oh ya, that reminds me. Drats, I'm totally curious about the A-thing."

"Then you ask them yourself."

"Stef, tell me all that you know about it."

"I don't know. Rem doesn't, you know, transform with magic. He can do it automatically."

"You gotta ask James, Sirius and Peter if you wanna know more."

"James pissed me off so I don't want to talk to him. That egomaniac."

"Then you ask Sirius."

"But Sirius practically glued to James like Chang and Eng."

"They don't."

"They don't??"

"They don't do everything together."

"Well, not everything. But I mean most things."

"There is one thing that James and Sirius never do together and I'm sure about it."

"What??"

"Ask the same girl out."

"Huh??"

"Sirius asked Bell out."

"It was one of their joke."

"It wasn't. I think he sort of meant it."

"That's probably because he doesn't want to be stuck with James."

"Yeah, right. Bell, no one knows better than you do."

"So can someone tell me what's going on between the guys??"

"Basically James, Sirius and Peter want to keep Remus company during his monthly thing. This was like a gift to him and indeed it helps a lot. Remus is much happier and the guys all look forward to this day which they spend the nights exploring the forbidden school grounds."

"Sounds pretty cool."

"Don't tell me you want to try that??"

"Why not?? They can do it so can we."

"Lils, you don't have a need to be one."

"It sounds fun, ya know??"

"It's not easy."

"They figured it out."

"Don't you know James topped Transfig. for like five years in a row??"

"Oh, well."

"Don't bother about it. Ask him teach you after you two get married."

"ARABELLA!!"

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"Tiring day." James commented. It was the day after their night out as animals. As always, they slept throughout most lessons except for Potions.

"I need to sleep." Sirius let out a loud yawn.

"Cover your mouth. It stinks."

"I just woke up from my nap. The toothbrush is in our dorm."

"I can't take it already. Going to skip dinner for sleep." James turned towards the direction of Gryffindor tower. "Wormtail, you coming??"

"Yup." Peter was apparently too tired to talk as well. His dark eye rings were obvious from the lack of beauty rest.

"Count me in. Hit the kitchens after that." Sirius ran after James and Peter.

"For once you chose sleep over food." James remarked jokingly.

"Because we can still get food later, I'm turning to a walking zombie." The three guys made their way up to the tower in their fastest pace.

"Potter and Black, Dumbledore would like to have you in his office now." Professor McGonagall's voice boomed across the moving staircases.

"Argh, bad timing." Sirius muttered. James and Sirius exchanged a questioning look. Peter looked rather puzzled as well.

"Can it wait??" James asked pleadingly.

"I'm afraid not. It's urgent." Professor McGonagall said sternly.

"See you later." James told Peter as he and Sirius followed Professor McGonagall towards Dumbledore's office.

"I wonder what happened." Sirius muttered sleepily. Professor McGonagall gave the two youngsters a disapproving look but remained silent.

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"Professor Dumbledore, you looking for us??" James asked curiously as the two guys stepped into the ancient headmaster's office again. It was the first time for this year but at least several hundred times over the last few years.

"Take a seat first." Dumbledore said in a forbidding manner. James and Sirius exchanged a look, sensing that something was terribly wrong. 

"I've some news for you." Dumbledore paused for a moment and continued. "Voldemort and his Deatheaters attacked the Ministry today."

"What happened??" James asked fearfully. _It can't be!! It can't be that!!_ Sirius was rooted to the seat, not knowing what he should say.

"James, I'm sorry to say that Voldemort had killed your father today. Your mother is in St. Mungo due to the shock." Dumbledore was studying James' response. "Sirius, your father managed to escape, but your mother, she's – dead."

"This can't be happening!!" Sirius practically screamed. James was still in a slight daze from the shocking news.

"There's a time for grieving. But you must be strong, we all must be strong enough to fight Voldemort."

"What about Fion??" James spoke up after a few moments of silence.

"Witnesses had said that she was captured by the Deatheaters. We've to remain hopeful that she's still alive."

"But she'll be tortured."

"Fion is a brave girl. She'll make it through." James remained silent. _I can't believe this is happening so soon._

"Where's my father??"

"He's coming soon."

"Does Stefanie know??"

"Professor McGonagall had gone to fetch her over."

"I can't believe this is happening." James said to himself.

"You may come in." Dumbledore spoke up suddenly. Stefanie emerged from the doorway.

"Sirius?? James?? Professor, is something wrong??" Stefanie asked in great fear. She was practically trembling.

"Mum's dead." Sirius told Stefanie.

"No!! This can't be happening!!" Stefanie broke into tears and fell back onto the extra chair, which was magicked out.

"Stef, we still have dad." Sirius said softly, not knowing how his younger sister is going to accept the facts.

"This is a terrible thing. But we must be strong. Your parents were the most admirable people I ever knew. They would want you to be strong and fight Voldemort, not for revenge but to prevent more sufferings." Dumbledore eyed the three teenagers; each of them had a different expression.

"Don't worry, Professor. I'm going to fight against Voldemort and defeat him myself, for the sake of my family." James said in a very determined voice.

"I'm not going to let him off." Sirius said with deep hatred for Voldemort.

"I shall fight with him till the very end." Stefanie said in determinedly.

"That's the spirit. Grieving over our loved one is what made us human. But we must be strong. Together as one, we shall defeat him."

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"I wonder what happened." Lily said. Stefanie had already gone for an hour and Lily was getting worried.

"Stef's mother is dead – killed by Voldemort." Arabella said, knowing very well what's happening.

"This can't be happening." Lily exclaimed.

"It is. James' father is killed by Voldemort as well."

"Oh no!! How could all these be happening??"

"Voldemort is the cause of all these unhappiness."

"How can we defeat him??"

"It would be tough. But someday he would disappear once and for all."

"Can you disclose how?? We've to stop these."

"We can't. We've to let nature takes it course."

"At a particular day in the future, when the elements of life fits and the seven objects come together as one, that will be the day when Voldemort is defeated."

"What do you mean?? When will that day come??"

"At least twenty years from now."

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"Dad!!" Jason Alphard Black appeared from the fireplace. He was looking much more haggard and tired than anyone could remember.

"Sirius, Stefanie, my dears." The three of them got into a long lingering hug before they broke away. "I love you." Sirius and Stefanie remained quiet in silent tears.

"James, I'm sorry that happened." Jason looked at James apologetically.

"Can you please tell me what happened??" James requested.

"Voldemort and his Deatheaters apparated to the atrium in the Ministry and started their killing. Your father, a brave man, had fought with him single-handedly. From the many exchange of curses and hexes, Voldemort hit him with the Cruciatus Curse. Despite all the pain he was suffering, he refused to relent. In the end, the Killing Curse killed him. Voldemort then apparated off." He turned to look at Sirius and Stefanie before continuing. "We went to the Potters which was hidden by the Fidelius Charm of course and your mother was at the Ministry that particular day. And then – at our house – we found the body of your mother." Jason closed his eyes; the thought was too much for him to bear.

"What abut Fion??"

"We believed that she was captured by Voldemort. That was pure rumor." James gritted his teeth and clasped his fists. His blood was boiling with anger.

"Stef sweetheart, you must be strong. Be daddy's strong little girl no matter what happen. Promise to protect yourself from harm." Stefanie nodded, still in tears. Jason gave his daughter a loving fatherly hug.

"Sirius, there's something I must be tell you." Mr. Black told Sirius. "Something that even your mother didn't know about."

"What is it??" Sirius asked questioningly.

"You're not my biological son."

"What??" A stunned Sirius questioned. "W-what do you mean??"

"Hear me out first." Jason looked away. "You're actually my nephew. You're actually my brother's son, who is named Sirius Black as well." Sirius looked at the man whom he had called 'father' all his life. "I was kicked out of the family twenty years ago for being the 'decent' son and married a half-blood."

"B-but how did you adopt me??" Sirius questioned.

"Stefanie did have a twin brother, the three of you were born barely a day apart from one another at St. Mungo. I supposed it was kind of ESP thing, my brother and I both named our son Sirius Black. There was a mixed-up in the hospital I supposed and the two babies were switched. I did not realize that until when you were about five. I met my nephew, and he had a patch of darken birthmark on his left forearm, which I was sure my son had when he was born but disappeared the next day when I saw him."

"Oh."

"No one else noticed that at all. Not even my brother and his wife. I decided to leave the situation to the way it is. There was no loss or whatsoever. We both have a son named Sirius. The poor child was brought up in such a horrible family. When he was ten, he died of a muggle illness, liukimia or something." Jason paused. "Anyway they had another son, Regulus, and I didn't want to return you to them. My brother and I were barely in speaking terms, which was an understatement. But now, I'm not left with much of a choice. I just sent them an owl telling them about it."

"But what about you?? Where are you going??" Sirius asked.

"Fight Voldemort. That is the only thing I truly want to do right now." Jason said in a determined voice.

"Honey, I've made the necessary arrangements for you already. Don't worry about me, okay?? Protect yourself well." Jason touched the necklace, which Stefanie was wearing.

"Dad, can you not go??" Stefanie pleaded.

"I can't. I need to." Jason said hesitatedly.

"But-"

"No buts. Promise me you'll live your life well."

"I promise." Stefanie gave her father a hug, her eyes tearing.

"Sirius, this is the address to – your home." Jason hanged a small piece of parchment.

"Number twelve, Grimmauld Place, London??"

"That's the place. It's hidden from the muggle, but you shouldn't have much problems going there." Jason spoke in a serious tone. "Whether you're staying or not, it's up to you. I want you to know your family history and meet your parents."

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"Professor, can I go to St. Mungo to see my mother??" James requested.

"Yes, you may. But I don't want any of you to go anywhere alone." Dumbledore commanded.

"I'll go with him, Sir." Sirius offered.

"We're going with him too." Stefanie spoke. Arabella had informed Remus and the three of them had hurried to Dumbledore's office to join their three friends.

"We'll stick together as one." Remus added.

"Thanks guys." James said gratefully and smiled appreciatively as his friends.

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"Dumbledore was really understanding to give us a couple of days off." Lily said suddenly. The girls' dormitory was deafeningly silence for several hours ever since they returned from Dumbledore's office the night before.

"Stef, take care of yourself." Joey gave Stefanie a pat on her shoulders and a hug.

"Thanks."

"Take care." Samantha gave Stefanie a bear hug.

"Stef, you ready to go??" Arabella asked in a patient voice. They were leaving Hogwarts for several days to accompany Stefanie, James and Sirius home.

"Yes." For once, Stefanie had packed her necessities into a normal Deuter backpack just like Lily and Arabella.

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"Sorry Wormtail, we need to be away for a couple of days." Remus said apologetically.

"It's alright." Peter said. "I can manage."

"Padfoot, you done??" James called out to Sirius who was in the bathroom.

"Soon." A muffled voice called out from inside.

"Moony, you done??"

"Ever ready. I'm just waiting for you."

"Done. Let's get going." Sirius said.

"Bye guys." Peter greeted.

"Bye Wormtail." James and Sirius said as they carried their backpacks and left the boys' dormitory on a sunny Saturday morning. Most of the students were still in bed while the three Marauders, together with three other girls, were going to floo away for Hogwarts.

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The six teenagers walked in silence towards Dumbledore's office so that they can go via the fireplace.

"Pringles." Lily said after the six of them stepped firmly on the moving gargoyle.

"Come in." Dumbledore's voice called from inside the moment they landed up at the doorway of Dumbledore's office.

"Good morning Professor." The six of them chorused.

"Morning." Dumbledore said warmly. "Floo to the Potter's Manor and settle there for these few days. It's the safest place from Voldemort and his Deatheaters."

Stefanie, with Lily and Arabella on each side, stepped into the fireplace and called out 'Potter's Manor'.

"Take care of one another. It's important to united together in this time of need." Dumbledore told the three remaining guys.

"We will." James assured. The three guys stepped into the fireplace and said 'Potter's Manor' and disappeared into the green smoke.


	66. Away From Hogwarts

**Chapter 65: Away From Hogwarts**

"This place felt so, I don't know, peaceful or something." Lily commented as she stepped out of the fireplace with Arabella and Stefanie. The Potter's Manor, once so full of life and colors had appeared to be of the gloomy despite the furnishings had remained untouched.

"Is there anything we can do about it??" Stefanie asked.

"We leave it until James arrive. Afterall, this is his house." Arabella suggested.

_Whooosh!!_

"Why do you have to _knock_ onto me everytime we floo??" A male voice shouted which sounded like Sirius.

"It's not my fault that you are always _blocking_ the exit whenever we floo." A deep masculine voice of James was heard.

"Guys, just in case you didn't realize, we already reached your house." Remus called out from the side. He walked out of the fireplace with Sirius first and James followed behind. The three guys were dusting themselves as if they had a major soot-fight in the fireplace.

"You three look so comical in the fireplace." Lily commented.

"This happens everytime we floo together at the same time. No big deal actually." Remus said with pretended unconcern for that matter and gave Stefanie a gentle kiss on her lips.

"James, you okay??" Sirius asked James who was gazing around the house as if it was a new place for him.

"Yeah." James replied without much of a thought. "Let's bring the stuffs to the bedrooms." The six of them, once again, walked in silence. There were not even sound of house-elves scurrying around the rooms.

"Where are the house-elves??" Arabella asked.

"I think they're probably in the kitchens. There's nothing much to dust and pack around here though."

"I go and get them to make us lunch." Remus offered and handed Sirius his backpack.

"I go with you." Stefanie added. Lily took her rarely light backpack along with her own.

Without much of a word, the four separated into two rooms, which was facing one another.

"Bell, how do you think James and Sirius are coping with everything??" Lily asked the moment they closed their bedroom door behind them.

"They're doing fine actually. In fact they're already quite prepared for this day to come a couple of summers ago. It'll come sooner or later for them. And this is beyond their control." Arabella said as she magicked her belongings into the large wardrobe and dresser along with Stefanie's.

"I think so. I mean they can still joke in the fireplace." Lily said agreeing. She was magicking her stuffs onto their respective place. This room afterall had been their bedroom over their last few visits to the Potter's Manor.

"James and Sirius are emotionally strong. We've all been through a lot over the last few years, you know."

"Ya, I get your point. At least they still have one of their parent."

"Now you still do, you're the princess of the Undersea City. Have you forgot??"

"Not that I forget or what, that just felt kind of, strange, you get what I mean??"

"Of course I do. I knew my mother for five years not knowing she was my mother. I don't think that felt normal for most people."

"Ya, anyway the reason why we're here are for Stef, James and Sirius."

"Actually I don't know how to start talking to them. It's not like Sirius and I can ever have a civil conversation."

"I know. I noticed that in the last couple of years when we're together." Lily said, laughing at the memory of Arabella and Sirius bickering at every possible moment.

"What's so funny huh??" Stefanie came into the room, looking happier than she had in the last few hours.

"What did you and Remus do??" Lily asked cheekily.

"We went to the kitchen to ask for lunch??" Stefanie said, blushing slightly.

"And then??" Arabella asked, grinning away.

"Nothing." Stefanie said, not meeting their eyes.

"Really??" Lily teased.

"Nothing really."

"You're blushing."

"No, I'm not."

"Hmm.."

"What's the hmm for??"

"Nothing."

"Anyway, who's hungry??"

"I am."

"Me too."

"Let's go for lunch."

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"You sure have a big wardrobe for a guy." Remus remarked as he unpacked some of his stuffs into a section of Jame's eight-door wardrobe.

"Padfoot's wardrobe is not any smaller." James commented.

"It is one door lesser than yours." Sirius defended.

"The dimension of my door is much smaller than yours."

"Your wardrobe is higher."

"Ok with the wardrobe size. You two are getting a little feminine when discussing about wardrobe."

"Don't you know that we're partially women beyond the masculine self??" Sirius whined dramatically in his fake high-pitched voice.

"I never knew you're partially woman, Sirius." Arabella called out. The three girls just entered James' room.

"Don't you girls learn how to knock??" James called out from a corner.

"We knocked. But no one bothered to open the door for us." Stefanie joked. "So we helped ourselves with the doorknob."

"We came over to ask if you guys are ready for lunch." Lily said.

"Almost ready." Sirius magically dumped the last bit of his belongings into one of James' empty sector of wardrobe.

At a corner, Stefanie used her wand and made one of Sirius' briefs dropped from the opened wardrobe. Lily and Arabella noticed and giggled.

"Aha, don't worry. I got more than enough briefs and boxers with me this time. Besides I can always go home and take." Sirius laughed. Apparently he had forgotten that one of the tasks they had to do was to pay a visit to Sirius' actual home, which was not the one he had stayed for the last sixteen years. It seemed like the five of them noticed that and just gave him a look. "Hey, don't give me that look. I know that I'm supposed to go to this home at Grimmauld Place, but the Black's Mansion will always feel like my real home."

"That's my Sirius." Stefanie gave Sirius a big sisterly hug.

"Hey, when was the last time you gave me such a loving hug??" Sirius asked with a strange expression on his face. The six of them laughed at his good-natured joke. "Anyway, it's lunchtime!!"

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"Mum, how're you feeling??" James asked his mother gently, a sort of gentleness that none had seen before.

"I'm fine." Helen said weakly. Her grief-stricken face was looking more haggard and pale than any of them had seen before. "Thanks for coming." She smiled appreciatively as the five other teenagers.

"Hello Mrs. Potter." They greeted the weak-looking lady who was lying on the pale white sheets on the hospital bed.

"We got you some flowers." Lily handed her a bouquet of white tulips.

"Thank you my dears." Helen said as she attempted to sit up, the bed adjusted itself accordingly to the patient's maximum comfort.

"I get a vase for them." Remus offered and went to fetch the vase, Stefanie unwrapped and arranged it and placed them on Helen's bedside table.

"It's beautiful." Helen said gratefully, looking at the beauty of the tulips.

"Glad that you like it." Arabella smiled.

"Thank you for taking time off to come all the way here."

"No trouble at all."

"Mum, have a good rest alright??"

"I've been resting for who-knows-how-long already." Helen joked.

"You look really tired though."

"James, I'm glad you kept calm about everything. I always thought that you're too young to handle all these."

"I'm already sixteen. And you, dad and Fion had prepared me that these might happen someday when I was thirteen."

"I'm comforted to know that you are taking all these as a matured adult."

"Don't think about so much. Take a rest first."

"Alright, whatever you say." The bed adjusted by itself down so that the patient could lie straight down in a sleeping position.

"Sleep well, mum." James said and he pulled up the covers for his mother.

"Have a good rest, Mrs. Potter." They said non-simultaneously.

"Thank you." Helen said and she closed her eyes. Within minutes, the breathing became regular with a light snore.

"Let's go." Sirius ushered James out of the hospital. "We better go get some lunch at home." The six of them apparated back to the Potter's Manor living room.

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"Where's this Grimmauld Place??" Sirius asked. They had been walking around an area with a lot of unkempt grass.

"I think we're going around in circles." James suggested. "Why don't we try to look for a road sign or something??"

"Hey, look at this. Does it state Grimmauld Place or something??" Lily said, pointed at a dirty heap of rubbish along a side of the wall.

"G-R-I-hmm-A-U-L-D P-hmm-E." Remus tried to read, magicking the rubbish away the letters on a broken sign.

"I think this is the place. Let's look for the house number twelve." Stefanie suggested.

"This place doesn't look very tempting." James remarked. The grimy fronts of the houses were not inviting; some of them had broken windows, glimmering dully in the light from the streetlamps, paint was peeling from many of the doors and heaps of rubbish lay outside several sets of front steps.

 "It doesn't smell nice either." Remus added. There was a pungent smell of rotting rubbish coming from the pile of bulging bin-bags outside a nearby broken gate.

"Where's house twelve??" Stefanie asked. Sirius was obviously too busy looking around at the environment, which he might have to live in.

"Ten.. Eleven.. Thirteen." Lily commented. They were walking to and fro in front of the gates. There was obviously no house number twelve in sight. "You sure you got the correct number??"

"I'm pretty sure." Sirius said and he took out the bit of parchment and checked. James and Remus peeped to take a look and nodded that the house number was correct.

"Do you wanna ask someone or something like that??" Arabella suggested.

"The people who stay inside don't seem to be nice to talk to." Lily commented. There was a loud blasting of techno music in number eleven and the lawn looked like an unkempt forest with a lot of litter in house thirteen.

"So how??" Stefanie asked.

"Number twelve, Grimmauld Place, hmm.." Sirius muttered to himself. "Hey, there it is. Can't believe we missed noticing it."

"Where??" James asked, obviously he had yet to notice.

"I can't see it either." Remus frowned quizzically.

"Where is the number twelve, Grimmauld Place??" Arabella asked Sirius. "Eh, I can see the door now."

"You can see that black door out of nowhere between the number eleven and thirteen right??" Sirius asked Arabella.

"Yes, the one with all the gray walls and dark windows." Arabella said excitedly.

"Where??" Lily and Stefanie asked at the same time.

"There." Arabella was pointing at the door now. She walked towards the door.

"Huh??" James and Remus looked at Sirius and Arabella strangely.

"I open the door for you all to see." Sirius said and walked up the worn stone steps, taking the silver twisted serpent doorknocker and knocked on the door.

"Hey, I didn't see it until now." Lily exclaimed.

"Reminds me of Slytherins." James commented, eyeing the doorknocker.

"Same sentiments exactly." Remus said.

"No one seems to be in." Sirius knocked again using the silver serpent.

"Let's wait for awhile more." James said, trying to hear for footsteps or whatsoever sound from inside.

"Shall we come back again tomorrow??" Remus suggested. Dark rain clouds were forming above them and it looked like a downpour was coming down soon.

"Let's apparate back first and decide what to do." James said.

"Alright then. Let's go." Sirius said finally, giving the black battered door a final look before apparating back to the Potter's Manor.

33333333333333333333

_New Minister of Magic appointed_

_The Ministry had all voted for Millicent Bagnold to be the new Minister after the late Harry James Potter. Being the Head of Department for International Magical Office of Law for more than ten years and Mr. Potter's assistant for five years, Millicent Bagnold was the best candidate for the Ministry._

Lily, Arabella and Stefanie were reading the Daily Prophet in their bedroom to catch up with the updates of the Ministry as well as Voldemort.

"Who is this Millicent Bagnold person??" Lily asked Stefanie.

"He's sort of adviser for Mr. Potter last time. He often appear in those big party and Mr. Potter do think rather highly of him, or at least my father did think highly of him." Stefanie replied, looking at the moving picture of the new Minister.

"The fair and just kind of man??" Arabella asked.

"I supposed so." Stefanie replied as they flipped to the next page of the newspaper.

_Reducing Charm Permits_

_Starting from 1st October, there will be a new law for Reducing Charms. All eight versions of Reducing Charms would be banned from regular usage in the magical community. Permit from the Ministry must be obtained for this entitlement. The consequences of using Reducing Charm without a permit from the Ministry would include at least six months in Azkaban as well a fine of two thousand galleons._

"Oh no. Our trunks are gonna be so heavy." Stefanie commented.

"What can we do anywhere??" Lily said.

"We can use the Feather Light Charm and the Summoning Charm so we can skip carrying our trunk." Arabella suggested.

"But it occupies the space in the compartment." Lily pointed out.

"Don't complain. You can dump your trunk in the Prefects' compartment." Stefanie said good-naturedly.

"Oh, well." Lily answered sheepishly.

33333333333333333333

"Oh, Millicent Bagnold is going to be the new Minister." James commented, lowering the Daily Prophet after reading the headlines.

"Well, he's the next best candidate after your father." Sirius said bluntly.

"He is a fair and just guy, alright. But he is not that capable." Remus said.

"Well, I think Dumbledore would be better." Sirius remarked.

"Dumbledore would never leave Hogwarts. Besides he would not be interested in the Minister position. He didn't even apply to be the candidate."

"Hey, look at this. More Charms being banned. Guess they must be afraid Volcano might try using Reducing Charms to enter people's home or something." James said. "And using it illegally will land you in Azkaban."

"I don't really need daily reminders that I'll be going to Azkaban in the future." Sirius said dryly.

"That was just a comment." Remus defended James.

"That's why." James agreed. "You're just being sensitive."

"Whatever." Sirius said nonchalantly and went to lie in James' bed.

"This might be of some interest in you." James said putting down the papers.

_Aurors Getting Higher Paid_

_With the rising of the Dark Lord, the Ministry is currently recruiting more Aurors. This job, usually recruits only the elites, had lowered it standards to allow more interested parties to try out. Upon being appointed as the new Minister, Millicent Bagnold, his first plan to carry out was to defeat the Dark Lord. He had proposed to increase Aurors' paid by five hundred galleons per month as well as lowering their recruitment standards._

"Cool. I thought we might not be able to become Aurors, judging from the way Maggie said about me during the career talk." Sirius commented and sat upright on the bed.

"Well, we can go try out for it in just two years time." James agreed.

"I don't think I might be able to get in." Remus said. "You know the Ministry and the way werewolves were treated in the magical community.

"Don't be disheartened. Read on." James grinned.

_"There would not be any restrictions for Aurors as long as you have the potential and willingness to work hard. Werewolves, Muggle-born, Half-blood, Handicapped, etc. Regardless of your status or anything else, as long as you have the interest, we urge you to give this career a try," Alastor Moody stated in the interview the Ministry had after the new Minister was elected. Millicent Bagnold had agreed with Alastor Moody and commented that werewolves are not to be despised although it had been the case for many centuries._

"It's probably just for publicity purpose." Remus pointed out, not sounding at all enthusiastic about being Auror as a career.

"Don't be so pessimistic about it." James said encouragingly.

"I try not to." Remus said dejectedly. James continued reading the papers first while Sirius was taking a nap in James' bed and Remus was playing with James' Playstation Two. 

33333333333333333333

"This is the third time. If no one is going to answer the door, I'm not coming back here again." Sirius muttered loudly as he went straight to the door and knocked.

"Don't give up so soon." Arabella said civilly, following behind along with James and Remus.

"Yeah, that's right. We've got a few more days before heading back to school." Lily added.

"But I don't think they're interested to see me." Sirius said. "Dumbledore had already sent them a note regarding about this."

"Who is it??" A voice called from inside.

"Sirius Black." Sirius replied.

"You're lying. Master had already passed away six years ago." The voice replied.

"Dumbledore had sent a message to Mr. and Mrs. Black regarding my appearance."

"Please hold on." Footsteps were heard going in the opposite direction.

"Finally there's some response." Sirius said softly. They gave him an encouraging smile.

"It's probably worth the wait." Stefanie said optimistically.

"Probably." Sirius said with barely any interest in going into the house.

"Please come in." A house elf opened the door for them to enter.

"Thank you."

They looked around the hall of Grimmauld Place. It did appear to be grim, as the name had said. The old-fashioned gas lamps along the walls cast a flickering insubstantial light over the wallpaper and threadbare carpet of a long gloomy hallway. The serpent-shaped chandelier and candelabra on the table nearly glimmered and portraits were hung on both sides of the walls.

They looked at one another and then cast a look at Sirius to check how he was taking in all these at part of his house which was totally opposite from the Black's Mansion. Sirius, however, was not showing much interest in the totally Slytherin deco of the house.

"This way." The house elf opened a door to a very dark looking room. "You only." He ushered Sirius in while the five were left outside the room.

"This way." The house elf re-emerged from the dark room ushered them to the room beside the room Sirius had just entered.

The room was long and high ceilinged with olive green walls covered in tapestries. The green velvet curtains covered any trace of sunlight coming through the room. The only source of light was from the twisted serpent-shaped chandelier and candelabra. The five of them took a seat the green velvet sofa, which matched with the curtain and carpet perfectly.

After what felt like hours, Sirius and the house elf materialized from the doorway of the room.

"Wanna go now??" Sirius asked casually.

"Ok." They agreed and left Grimmauld Place in silence. They were shooting Sirius with questioning looks but his expression was unreadable.

33333333333333333333

"What??" James practically shouted at Sirius. He was telling them what had happened in the room with his parents after dinner.

"He told me the rules of being a Black. Can you imagine something as horrible as 'no association with any mudbloods or half-breeds'??" Sirius said seething with anger.

"Sounds ridiculous." Lily said, shaking her head in disbelief.

"Now I know why dad – Uncle Alphard – had left that home years ago." Sirius commented.

"It doesn't even felt like a home." Arabella said. "It reminded me of dungeons."

"That room I was in was practically crawling with silver twisted serpents, not to mention that most of the stuffs are silver and green, Slytherin colours, can you imagine??"

"The room we waited for you wasn't any better."

"And they have the nerve to scold me why I wasn't in Slytherin. Uncle Alphard was from Ravenclaw though, I wonder how did he ended up there."

"You know those inter-families, marriages and sorts. I supposed he was from Ravenclaw descent and not Slytherin."

"Still pure blood but yet not sly and cunning."

"I think you're right at that. I can't imagine my real biological parents telling me about what sort of son I gotta be." Sirius added furiously. "And they were telling me that I can learn from Regulus on how to be a good son."

"Doesn't sound like a nice name already."

"He's a typical Malfoy material. And today I just realized that I'm distantly related to the Malfoys."

"How??"

"Don't know. Some distant cousin's marriage or something. I don't really care."

"They told you about your family history??"

"That's not all. They said what sort of son my father – uncle – was and how he was disowned for marrying a half-blood and for not being in Slytherin."

"Totally absurd."

"Anyway I believe he was happier away from them. Given me, I rather leave than to stay in a home like that."

"You're always welcome here." James offered in a joking manner.

"Thanks mate." Sirius said gratefully.


	67. Time To Understand

**Chapter 66: Time To Understand**

"I rather die than to go back there." Sirius practically shouted.

"That's the place where you rightfully belong." Jason said desperately.

"But I'm not welcomed there at all."

"I can't force you, but for my sake, do go back."

"I see about it. What about Stef??"

"Dumbledore had arranged for Stef to join Lily and Arabella at the Undersea City."

"I can go with them."

"It's not a matter of can or not. But the thing is that I want you to reunite with your parents."

"They don't treat me as their son at all. They only have one son and that's Regulus who is two years younger and studying in D.I.."

"Alright, you're old enough to decide for yourself. I believe that Voldemort next target would be me and I don't have much time left."

"Dad, thank you for everything." Sirius gave his father a manly hug. Though their relationship was uncle and nephew, but they had similar build, which made them looked enough like father and son.

33333333333333333333

"Professor!!" Dumbledore had just emerged from the fireplace of Potter's Manor.

"Good day, Mrs. Potter." Dumbledore greeted Helen. She was just discharged from St. Mungo after being admitted for five days. "How are you feeling??"

"I'm fine, thank you. How is everything??" Helen asked with deep concern.

"So far everything is alright." Dumbledore said with a serious tone. "Barely anything to report. Everything is in the papers."

"Any news about Voldemort and stuffs??"

"More killings, several students had suffered."

"I'm really sorry to hear that. Do you have any plans??"

"I had set up a secret society to fight Voldemort, currently recruiting more members."

"Count me in." James volunteered.

"How can you forget me??" Sirius reproached James in a joking manner.

"And me in as well." Remus added.

"We're going to be in this together." Stefanie said.

"That's right." Arabella agreed.

"We're here to fight Voldemort in the first place." Lily said.

"That's right. I'll recruit my members personally. Not everyone who appear to be trustworthy is trustworthy." Dumbledore said seriously. "Do not mention this to your dorm-mates or people who are your friends. It's highly secretive."

"Yes, sir." James nodded.

"There's one condition. I do not want any of you to pry into this matter until you graduate from Hogwarts. No questions asked."

"Why not??" Sirius enquired.

"That's because you're not equipped with the necessary skills. Besides I want you all to concentrate on your very own powers right now. Do not forget to practice it frequently." Dumbledore reminded.

"So what is this secret society to fight Voldemort about??" Lily asked.

"It's called the Order Of The Phoenix." Dumbledore explained. "We have meetings frequently at highly secretive places and we work undercover."

"Sounds cool." James was awed by the work.

"As cool as it sounds, it is highly dangerous and involved great risk. Several had lost their life at this." Dumbledore said in a gravely tone and turned to Helen.

"Father is in this Order Of The Phoenix??" James asked his mother.

"Yes, your father and I are involved in it actively. So is your sister."

"Why wasn't I informed??"

"That's because you're still young. We can't risk your safety."

"How about my parents??" Stefanie questioned.

"I'll not mention who's in it or whatsoever. When the time comes, you will learn about everything. Right now, all I want is you to concentrate in your studies and doing what's important at this moment. Fight Voldemort is your priority in life, but not now."

"We'll work hard and would not disappoint you or any of those who sacrificed in the process." Remus said.

"That's the spirit." Helen smiled encouragingly.

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"I'm going to Grimmauld Place alone today." Sirius declared suddenly after lunch.

"What??" Stefanie asked.

"Dad told me to do so. I'll return to the place which is supposed to be my home."

"How are you going there??"

"Apparating over to the entrance of the house?? How else can I go??"

"I nearly forgot that you can apparate." James said in pretended shock.

"Oh Prongs, how could you forget my _lovely_ ways of apparating??" Sirius said in a pretended effeminate manner, which made the group of six bursts into laughters.

"You're _so right_, I can never forget how you apparate _sitting _on my lap for the last few days."

"I thought I apparated on the sofa."

"You're so wrong, I was _waiting_ for you on the sofa."

"That's so _sweet_."

"Bbbrrrr.. that's so cold." Lily teased.

"Give me Goosebumps."

"Try geesebump."

"Haha."

"Would you guys mind to stop flirting with one another because it's making we men look extremely sissy in front of the girls??" Remus said, trying hard to sound serious and hiding his grin.

"Back to the serious topic." Sirius announced.

"We didn't stop on the Sirius topic in the first place." James said mockingly.

"I better make a move first. You guys continue." Sirius said, standing up and leaving the dinner table.

"Where's Sirius going??" Helen came into the dining room as Sirius was leaving.

"He's going home to Grimmauld Place." James replied.

"That's definitely not one of the greatest place on earth to be at." Helen said.

"I totally understand."

"My cousin married to the Blacks. As you all know all the pure-blood families are inter-related." Helen said. "Been there once and I felt that I hated that place as much as Azkaban though I never been there personally."

"How's Azkaban like??"

"I supposed it's like living hell. They introduced these new guards known as Dementers. I've no idea how the Ministry gets them in the first place. The Minister before your father had gotten them and they had kinda roamed the isolated island."

"Sounds horrible enough."  
  


"Well, to me I used Grimmauld Place to give me the Azkaban feeling."

"Sounds bad enough."  
  


"I've seen Sirius grew up. He's like my second son and I know he is able to handle this." Helen said. "I better leave you youngsters alone. I know how it feel to have a parent around the youngsters." She gave a motherly smile and left the dining hall.

"I think so far we settled everything already, right??" James asked.

"Our main objectives were to see your mum, take care of the general funerals, accompany Sirius home, basically the family matters." Remus named out their objectives.

"I think we forgot one." Arabella spoke up.  
  


"What??" Stefanie questioned.

"We had yet to make a trip to the Undersea City of Atlantica."

"Huh?? For what??"

"We're here to visit our home and family. It's your turn."

"But now is school term, and it's not like the most important thing to do on earth."

"It is. How can a Princess not know her homeland??"

"B-but.."

"We can ask Dumbledore for permission. Besides I always want to see how the merpeople world is all about."

"Sounds like a good idea."

"We were entitled two weeks away from school. We still have about four days left."

"So we owl Dumbledore and ask??"

"There isn't a need to." They turned to see where the source of voice came from. "Sorry for another disturbance."

"Professor!!"

"Permission granted." Dumbledore smiled at the five teens.

"Thank you so much." Lily said, smiling at Dumbledore appreciatively.

"Keep to the two weeks leave." Dumbledore reminded. "And don't forget to practice your powers before they get rusty."

"We will remember your advice." James grinned cheekily.

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"So we're going via the lake in Hogwarts, right??" Lily asked uncertainly.

"Yes, why do you have that strange expression on your face??" Stefanie teased.

"Nervous?? Scared?? I don't know. Foreign place I supposed."

"I think should be. Ready to floo back to Hogwarts??" Arabella gave Lily a comforting squeeze on her shoulders.

"Thanks. Let's go." Lily mustered up a convincing smile and the three girls stepped into the Potter's fireplace.

"My dears take good care of yourselves and one another." Helen was sending them off at their fireplace.

"Thank you Mrs. Potter for your hospitality." Lily said thankfully. With polite goodbyes, they flooed back to Dumbledore's office together, leaving the guys back there.

"Help one another. The six of you have to depends on one another." Helen said and gave James a pat on his back. "You're truly your father's son."

"Thanks mum. We're leaving now." James said. Sirius and Remus thanked Helen and with the usual jokes, they left the Potter's Manor.

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"I'm so not used to flooing since we learnt how to apparate." Arabella commented.

"I can't agree with you more. It makes me feel kinda pukey now." Lily said, taking a seat at Dumbledore's office

"But too bad Hogwarts is protected by all those enchantments that prevents people from apparating inside." Stefanie said reasonably.

"See, you're blocking my way again." A blurred voice of James came from the fireplace.

"I can't help flooing faster than you in the fireplace." Sirius said with pretended innocence.

"Yeah, you kick my shin sometimes and push me backwards the rest of the times."

"Hey, I don't do something like this. Sometimes I _can't_ control my limbs movement, you know??"

"Hahaha. I don't know. Then what is _your_ brain for since you _can't_ control your movement in _fireplaces_??"

"Must be the guys." Stefanie said laughing at the commotion in the fireplace.

"Dusty dudes." Lily commented, laughing at the soot-covered threesome.

"You aren't too clean yourself either, your red hair looking darkish and graying." James said grinning.

"Alright, so your black hair is graying as well, or so I noticed."

"It's alright, I just look more mature in that color."

"Mature isn't exactly the word. More likely it's, you know, _aging_."

"Girls are said to age faster than guys, you know that??"

"Not all, most girls can still look their age."

"Attention please." Came Dumbledore voice from the back of his chair. He turned around and smiled at the six soot-covered students in various stages of coverage.  
  


"Aren't you going to make your way to the lake or something??" Dumbledore suggested with a wink.

"Yes, we're going right away. Thank you sir." The six exited Dumbledore's office chatting rather excitedly. The group was now making their way towards the lake. Most of the students were in the middle of their afternoon classes at the moment.

"So how would it feel to have a fish tail rather than legs??" Stefanie asked.

"I don't know, never try before." Lily said, laughing at the thought of being leg-less. "I only remembered reading about mermaids and stuffs in storybooks."

"So how're we going to get into the bottom of the lake??" Sirius asked the group.

"I noticed you had either forgot what you had learnt in the last five years, or you simply didn't remember going for lessons in the first place." Arabella commented.

"We were taught how to go underwater??" Sirius scratched his head. "I don't remember we had any practical lessons about going underwater."

"The bubble head charm, you idiot." James gave a gentle slap on Sirius' head.

"That's the one?? I thought what??" Sirius said, with an expression of understanding.

"We're allowed to breathe in all environments with that charm." Lily said, laughing.

"No wonder everytime we dungbombed the school or something, the fifth-years and above always have no problem with that." Sirius commented. "A total waste to our effort and dungbombs."

"What would be the result if we release dungbombs in the water??" James asked, wondering the reactions of underwater creatures.

"The smelly gas will be stored in bubbles and move upwards until the surface and release the gas." Lily said, not knowing exactly what might happen anyway.

"Alternatively, the smelly gas can dissolve in the sea water and whoever underwater can smell them." Sirius said, laughing.

"The sentiments of a prankster indeed." Remus laughed. "I was thinking along the same lines."

"Ok, we're at the lake. So bubblehead charm now??" Lily asked.

"Sure." The group cast bubblehead charm on themselves by the lake. James gave a signal and the group walked down the shore and dived into the water, their clothes and backpacks were drenched throughout.

"Maybe we should have cast a bubble charm on the entire body and not just our head." Sirius suggested to the group.

"I can't hear you." James said. Apparently no one heard him, Sirius shook his head and they continued diving downwards.

Remus pointed at the bottom of the lake where the corals looked magical with many magical underwater animals swimming around them.

_Wow!! This is beautiful!!_ Lily thought, looking around and admiring the bottom of the lake. They were exploring the deep seabed, looking and admiring this beautiful part of the lake they never knew.

"What are you all doing here??" A voice boomed from somewhere behind them. They turned around and saw a group of human-bodied-cum-fish-tailed mermen holding onto some strange weapons.

"We're looking for the Undersea City of Atlantica." Lily said from inside the bubble skeptically.

"This way please." The mermen gave her a look and turned to their right. The six of them just followed the group silently, looking at one another with the same doubtful looks.

The mermen swam in the water and stopped so suddenly in front of the tunnel like place.

"Go in and say the place where you want to go." One of the mermen said.

"Thank you very much." They said gratefully and the mermen swam back.

"So where does this tunnel leads us to??" James asked. The rest shrugged, clearly understanding the question even though they could not hear anything.

"I go first." Lily signaled. Arabella and Stefanie followed and all three girls were now standing at the mouth of the tunnel. The tunnel looked scary and it was pitch black inside.

"Undersea City of Atlantica!!" The three girls linked their hands and shouted after Lily gave the signal.

"AAAaaaaahhhhHHHHH!!" The girls screamed and shut their eyes tightly as they zoomed head-wards into the dark tunnel.

Lily opened her eyes a little to peer what was surrounding them but could not see anything or one another in the darkness, all they could feel was one another hands which was linked tightly together. The strong gushes of waters brushed past them as they traveled forward, attempting to break up their linked arms.

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"Why are the girls screaming until like that??" Remus asked with concern. They had never traveled in this strange mean of transport in their whole life.

"Erm.. It's scary??" Sirius heard a little of Remus' dialogue and peered in the dark tunnel suspiciously.

"Well, their screams sound distant." James said, not sure if any of them heard him in the first place. "It's Undersea City of Atlantica, right??" Remus nodded.

"Let's go??" Sirius signaled them to the mouth of the tunnel.

"Undersea City of Atlantica!!" They shouted after James finished his three, two, one signal.

"Woooohhhhh!!" They called out in surprised. They were traveling horizontally head in front at very high speed. They were not able to see anything in the darkness which made them felt giddy and the water gushed passed them which made them separated from one another slightly.

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"Wow!!" Lily breathed. The three girls looked in awe at the undersea castle. It looked grand, like Hogwarts, except that it looked magical more than mystical when it's seen under the sea.

"This place looks magical!!" Stefanie remarked. There were colorful fishes of all sorts swimming around them, stopping by to take a look at the three strangers and swam away quickly.

"Beautiful." Arabella commented. In the middle of the city, there was a castle, standing high above the surrounding. The castle had lights within and shone outstandingly underwater.

"Hey, what're you three standing there for??" James called out, totally forgetting the three girls was not able to hear him at all.

"Woooh!!" Sirius suddenly took notice of the surroundings. The three guys looked at the place in admiration and swam towards the girls.

"Look at that!!" Lily exclaimed pointing towards the place in front of them. The place where they stood looked like the entrance to the Undersea City.

"Hi, who are you looking for??" A male voice called out. And surprisingly, all of them heard the voice clearly. They looked at one another and all looked clearly stunned to be able to hear this particular voice. "It's really insulting but I'm down at your feet." They looked down and saw a red crab talking to them, the six of them leaped back in surprise.

"Er.. Hi." Lily was shocked to find a talking red crab.

"Hello, I'm Sebastian. King Triton had asked me to escort you all back to the castle." The red crab smiled politely at the visitors.

"Ok, thank you." Lily was not sure what to say. It was not an everyday thing to see a crab talking and smiling at you, not even in Hogwarts.

Sebastian the crab was walking on the seabed while they were swimming, together the seven passed many Underwater creatures talking animatedly with one another and stopping to take a look at the visitors. They looked at the place in awe and were in total astonishment to see so many fishes and merpeople playing around. He led through a series of pillars and places before they reached a big room.

"King Triton, they're here." Sebastian greeted the king politely.

"Thank you Sebastian." King Triton said and turned around to face them. Lily was not the only one who was surprised to see King Triton as a merman because it was clearly an old man walking with legs and not a tail the last time they saw him at Hogwarts. This time, he was still having his Trident within his reach as well as a golden crown on his head. Instead of clothes, he was topless with sea green fish tail. "Welcome to the Undersea City!!" His voice boomed. They were clearly surprised that they can hear his voice as clearly as Sebastian but not one another.

He waved his Trident and pointed at the six, immediately their bubblehead had disappeared, leaving their face in contact with the water. They held their breath, but after awhile, they realized that they can breathe under water.

"I can breathe." James said, clearly surprised at his newfound ability.

"Yes, you can, I charmed you the ability so you can breathe underwater." King Triton smiled at the group. "So would you all want a feel of being merpeople with a tail??"

"Yes please." They said excitedly. With another wave, the Trident emitted some blue light and all of them had greenish color fish tails.

"Sebastian, take them to the guestrooms please."

"Yes, Sir." Sebastian strutted forward and started leading them to another part of the castle. They bowed at the king politely before leaving.

"Thank you very much for your kind hospitality." Lily said respectfully. Addressing a king and visiting an underwater city was definitely not an everyday event.

"This is exciting!!" James called out.

"Yes man!! There's so much to explore." Sirius said agreeing.

"This place is so – so brilliant." Lily told them.

"It would be so nice to be able to stay here." Arabella said enthusiastically.

"These are your rooms." Sebastian led them to two adjacent rooms, which are separated by some seaweed and walls. "I'll be back to take you around in an hours' time."

"Thank you Sebastian!!" They called out to the crab before entering their guestrooms.


	68. Under The Sea

**Chapter 67: Under The Sea**

"I'm going out for awhile." Lily told Arabella and Stefanie. Sebastian had brought them around the place for the whole afternoon, telling them about the life under the sea and taking them to all the exotic spots.

"Don't take too long." Arabella told Lily. The girls were looking at all the seashell and corals around their room. They had just gotten some accessories made of pearls and seashells and were admiring it.

"Be back soon." Lily called back and swam out of their room. The three guys in the next room were nowhere to be seen. Lily shrugged and swam towards her right, which Sebastian had said that would lead to the rest of the castle. _I supposed I wanna see this place alone. It's not really nice to leave Stef and Bell but I don't think this feeling could be shared. _Lily swam around, looking at the masterpieces around the corridor. _This place is so brightly lit; I don't even know what time is it now._

Lily swam further and further down the corridor and spiral hallways, which led to other levels of the castle. _Wow, don't really expect to see such things under the sea._

After exploring the inner part of the castle, she swam outwards towards the corals where most of the fishes were.

"Hi, you must be Princess Ariel." A yellow and blue guppy fish swam in front of Lily.

"Er.. Hi.. It seems like all of you can talk." Lily said, not as surprised as the initial meeting with Sebastian. "Am I talking fish language or human language??"

"I supposed in the magical world, animals communicate in one universal language." The small yellow and blue fish commented.

"Sounds pretty remarkable to hear it from a fish." Lily laughed. "By the way call me Lily please."

"I'm Flounder, please to meet you."

"Hi Flounder, would you mind taking me around. I'm really new here and just wanna do some exploring of this city."

"Sure, come with me." The guppy swam outwards and Lily followed closely behind, looking at the strange and yet fascinating surrounding.

"Where are you going??" A familiar male voice called out from behind.

"Flounder is taking me to explore a bit." Lily told Sebastian.

"Don't go out, it's dangerous out there." Sebastian tried to crawl as fast as possible to follow Lily.

"It's alright, Sebastian, don't be so tight about it." Flounder said.

"I'm supposed to be Prin-Lily's guardian for the King." Sebastian explained in his usual tone.

"How about we all go together??" Lily suggested.

"No."

"Yes, please." Lily pleaded.

"No."

"Ok, I'm going with Flounder then."

"Argh, I'm coming with you." Lily gave Flounder a wink and the three of them set out further and further away from the castle.

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"Where did Lily go??" James asked as the guys swam into the girls' room after their usual exploring of new grounds.

"She went out for awhile to have some time for herself." Arabella explained.

"How long had she gone for??" Remus asked.

"About fifteen minutes, we don't really have something like a clock to tell us the exact time." Stefanie commented. The group was sitting around the table eating some snacks the guys brought back from outside.

"Where did you get this food from??" Arabella asked suspiciously. The food did look tempting, if not more delicious than their dinner, which comprised of noodles and some other merpeople delicacies.

"We met up with some other merpeople outside and they gave us some traditional food. We tried it and it taste great so we brought some back." Remus explained.

"Did you sense something??" Stefanie asked her best friend.

"No, I didn't see anything. It's just instinct I supposed. I think it's probably food from a really foreign place and it appear strange to me." Arabella shrugged off the nagging feeling.

"Let's dig in then." Sirius cheered and helped himself. The rest of them followed suit and ate.

"It's really nice." Stefanie agreed.

"I must be paranoid." Arabella laughed at herself, somehow could not shake off the weird feeling in her.

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"Erm, can we turn back now??" Sebastian asked Lily and Flounder.

"Why??" The always-inquisitive Lily questioned.

"I'm not familiar with the place." Sebastian admitted.

"Then let's explore it together." Lily said enthusiastically. "Look at the corals over there, I think they're beautiful." Lily adjusted her spectacles, which was charmed to provide a clear view underwater.

"B-but-" Sebastian did not know how to answer.

"No buts ok?? I'm only going to be here for three days and I really want to see as much as I can." Lily begged.

"Alright, let's just go a little further." Sebastian crawled to join them as quickly as he could. "Just a little further."

"Ok." Lily agreed and swam forward with Flounder towards the enchanting corals ahead of them.

"Hahaha.." Sinister laughter could be heard. They spun around to see a group of evil looking mermen surrounding them. Sebastian and Flounder hid behind Lily instinctively.

"W-who are you??" Lily stammered. There were far too many of them and most importantly, her wand was not with her.

"It doesn't matter whether you know who we're. Our objective is to capture you." One of them said with a menacing tone.

"Why - what did you want to capture me for??" Lily was trying to hold time and trying to find a possible escape route.

"Master told us to capture you. No more questions." A voice said. The next thing Lily felt was a hard hit on her left shoulder and lost consciousness. 

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_Strange, how come everything I see is darkness?? _James moved, his body felt a little rigid from lying at a strange position for too long. _My eyes are closed!! _James realized and his eyes shot opened. His had fell forward and had lain on top of Sirius on the table. _Everyone fell asleep??_

"Wake up!!" James shouted. Stefanie and Remus moved a little but did not wake up. He started shaking Sirius vigorously and shouted at his ear.

"W-what?? Are we late for lesson??" Sirius woke up, apparently still half asleep.

"We fell asleep!!" James shouted exasperatedly. _Something is wrong. But what??_

"Ok, we're tired." Sirius said and moved towards the bed for a better rest.

"NO!! Lily is missing!!" James suddenly came into realization. His sixth sense told him something was seriously wrong.

"W-what are you talking about?? Lily is just exploring her home." Sirius reminded James.

"How long did we fell asleep for??" James tried to remember. The castle was brightly lit all day round, they had already lost track whether it was day or night at the moment.

"Felt like thirty minutes." Sirius said. "Don't be so paranoid. Lily can protect herself."

"Wake the rest up. I'm going out to find Lily." James swam out and left the room. His first instinct was to turn right because Lily had a tendency to turn right and any unknown left or right turns.

"Alright, alright." Sirius muttered to no one. "Remus, up up up!!" Sirius was shoving Remus to make his stand literally on his tail.

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_Please don't let something happen to Lily. _James was looking through all the possible hiding places and nook and cranny to check for any sign of Lily. _I felt something is wrong. Somehow I know this instinct is not wrong._ James swam as quickly as possible towards the long stretch of corridor and the spiral hallways, which led to other levels. _Given Lily's nature, where would she go?? _James looked around and then he saw the view of the city over the ledge. _Yes, out of the castle. There's nothing in here._

With the thought in mind, he swam out into the city. Fishes of all sorts were swimming around him, some of the mermaids were giving him admiring glances but at the moment he could not be bothered with them.

Finally after what felt like hours of searching the city, he started asking for direction for any possible direction where Lily might go.

"Excuse me." James called out to a merman whose back for facing him. "Did you see a mermaid swimming around here??"

"Er, there are a lot of mermaids swimming around here. Whom are you referring to??"

"She is wearing a white tee and has long red hair and-"

"You mean the Princess Ariel??"

"Yes, that's her."

"I saw her earlier on around with Sebastian and Flounder, but not sure where they headed to."

"Thanks anyway." James said gratefully and swam outwards, asking for information from the merpeople along the way.

"Excuse me." James was now approaching the tenth merpeople along the way. He was starting to get really panicky.

"Yes??"

"Did you see Ariel with Sebastian and Flounder going pass here??" James asked with a distinctive panic tone.

"They went out exploring. Went that way." The kind merman pointed at somewhere, which looked darker and gloomier than where they stood. Something seemed to be glowing. James felt a tinge of dreadfulness creeping upon him. He held out his right hand to prepare to cast any defensive spell. Afterall he could do wandless magic. _Lily can't perform wandless magic._ Just then, from his back, he felt a strong hit and turned around.

"Who are you??" He was growing weaker, part of him trying to regain his energy but after another hit from the back, he lost consciousness.

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"What happened??" Stefanie demanded from Sirius.

"I don't know." Sirius claimed. "James woke me up and said Lily was missing and he left to find her."

"How long had he gone for??" Arabella asked. Her instinct told her that something was wrong but somehow she could not tell what was wrong.

"Bell, tell us what you know." Remus questioned.

"I really don't know. I don't have any visions." Arabella felt fear creeping through her.

"Why not??" Sirius was nearly shouting at Arabella.

"I don't know. I really don't know." Arabella shouted back.

"Sirius, stop it." Stefanie said angrily. "Bell, calm down. Tell us what you know." She gave her Arabella a hug.  
  


"I don't know anything. My instinct told me that the food was drugged. And something is wrong. But I don't know what's wrong." Arabella said, shivering.

"We ate the food earlier, how could it be drugged??" Sirius reasoned.

"Remember that the guy went to refill the basket for us because we wanted more." Remus suddenly remembered.

"That's right." Sirius jolted into realization.

"So what shall we do now??" Stefanie looked up at the guys and asked while hugging Arabella close to her.

"King Triton." Remus said immediately.

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James fluttered his eyelids. _This place is so cold and dry. _James opened his eyes suddenly. _Dry?? I'm in the sea!!_ He sat up and looked around the dark room. His spectacles were dented and he cast a charm to repair and dry it. _Where am I?? _He tried to stand up but realized that he was still having his fish tail._ Strange. What happened?? I was finding Lily and I was hit from the back. _His shoulders were still a little sore from the multiple hits. Suddenly his hand hit something.__

"Lily!!" James shouted and pushed himself towards Lily. "Wake up!!" James was shouting and shaking Lily forcefully.

"W-what??" Lily shifted a little. "Ouch." Her left shoulder was hurting from the hit. Her eyelids fluttered opened and saw a pair of bespectacled brown eyes looking down at her.

"Lily!!" James brought Lily to a sitting position and gave her a relieved hug.__

"Huh?? W-what's going on?? Where am I??" Lily questioned, looking around the room. It looked a little blurry and her spectacles seemed to have crack. "Can you repair my specs??"

"Reparo." James pointed at Lily's spectacles and it was repaired instantly with a green spark.

"Where are we??" Lily asked, looking around the dark and empty room.

"I don't know. I was hit and lost consciousness. The moment I woke up, we are here." James explained.

"Same. How did you end up here??" Lily asked. "Oh no!! Where's Sebastian and Flounder??" She attempted to stand up but realized that she was still having her fish tail.

"Don't bother about them. As long as you're safe." James said and pulled Lily to another hug.

"I can't be selfish. If anything ever happen to them and it's my fault." Lily said guiltily.

"It's not the time for blaming." James said. "Let's find a way to get out of here."

"How??" Lily questioned. She had absolutely zero idea.

"I'll find a way. By the way what is the charm to change our tails back to legs??"

"I don't know. I think only the Trident have this power."

"Then we need to find King Triton a.s.a.p."

"Let's find the way out of here first."

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"..Lily and James are missing.."

"..food was drugged.."

"..slept for who-knows-how long and Lily was.."

"..might be kidnapped or something.."

"Lily is missing. How long was that??" King Triton asked with deep concern.

"She said she would be out exploring and be back soon.." Stefanie explained.

"Then we fell asleep upon eating some delicacies." Sirius added.

"Fetched the food." King Triton ordered, a merservant went off and returned quickly with the leftover food in the basket. King Triton took a look at it and frowned. "These are just ordinary noodles, with magic to make it taste delicious and have a sleeping draught. It definitely has something to do with the Dark Arts." The merservant took the food and retreated.

"So what shall we do now??" Sirius asked seriously.

"I suspect its Voldemort's doing." He said finally. The four of them turned paled upon the statement.

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"There doesn't seem to be another door." Lily commented. The duo had been moving around the circumference of the dark square room but could not find even a minor crack.

"It has to be. We can't reach the ceiling. So there must be a door somewhere." James said, trying all sort of charms to break open the wall, which appeared to be unbreakable.

"I got a bad feeling about this." Lily said, looking downcast.

"We'll get out alive." James said confidently. All of them know that in the future they will have a son name Harry, so it was not possible for them to die now.

"If anyone has to sacrifice anything, I might not be able to forgive myself. It's my playfulness and curiosity that led us here."

"It's ok. No one is going to blame you. What's bound to happen will happen." James said, not moving away from Lily.

"Alright, let's see what else can we do." Lily said with more confidence. They moved close to the wall and knock and tried to find cracks. The wall and floor did not sound hollow and the surface was extremely smooth.

"There's nothing to transfigure."

"There's no light and sound either." The silence between them was rather deafening.

James was shooting all sorts of hexes and charms that came to his mind at a particular point in the wall but nothing happened.

"I think we better not waste too much energy." Lily said finally and leaned against the wall.

"Ok, listen to you. I believe the rest will come and save us soon."

"I wonder if they know where are we in the first place."

"We've Bell with us."

"True." Silence covered them again.

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"No, I don't have any visions." Arabella was frantically trying to find visions. Usually visions come to her naturally almost like part of her, but today, or for the last few days, she barely had any vision.

"So how are we going to find them??" Sirius asked desperately.

"Do you believe that it's Voldemort doing??" Remus spoke up suddenly. They turned to stare at Remus. "Even his Majesty had believed that it might be Voldemort doing. And they said that the only person Voldemort was afraid of is Dumbledore."

"So we shall go and find Dumbledore right now??"

"Yes, we shall do that." King Triton commanded. "Get the Carriage." He ordered the merservant.

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"Lils, how are you feeling??" James asked Lily who was sounding frailer and frailer by the minute.

"I'm kinda dehydrated." Lily said with much effort, her head had fell onto James' right shoulder and laid there for what felt like hours.

"Why don't you take a rest first??" James said softly, caressing Lily's messy red hair.

"Ok." Lily said and closed her eyes, within minutes she was fast asleep.

_I never ever expected that the first time we will be alone together would be a place like this where we're the captives. _James looked at Lily's peaceful sleeping face. _Look so huggable. _Lily stirred a little in her little sleep.

James moved Lily into a lying position whereby Lily's head now rest of his supposedly thighs but fish tail at the moment. He stroked her hair slowly, adoring the messy Lily who was now sleeping soundly.

"Lily, you're beautiful." James whispered and bent down to give Lily a peck on her lips. Lily stirred a little again and James shot upright immediately.

"My, my, my, isn't Lily beautiful??" A dark figure appeared in front of James and a sleeping Lily out of nowhere.

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"This is not good. We've no idea where are they now." King Triton said worriedly. They had gathered at Dumbledore's office and were discussing how to save James and Lily.

"Lily is sleeping." Stefanie said. "I'm going to enter into her dream now."

"How did-" Sirius asked but before anything, Stefanie fell into Remus' arms and lost consciousness. Remus carried her up and laid her on a newly magicked couch.

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_Lily!! Lily!!_

_Stef??_

_Yes!! Where are you??_

_I don't know. I'm in this dark and enclosed room with James._

_How did you end up there??_

_I was knocked out while exploring the grounds with Sebastian and Flounder._

_Then James??_

_He suffered the same thing. It was the merpeople who knocked us out and brought us here._

_Where was the location??_

_I don't know. I was swimming outwards and before I knew it, a group of evil looking merpeople came and captured me._

_How did they look??_

_They had black tails. I'm afraid that it might be the Deatheaters. But they haven't done anything to us yet besides keeping us captive in this unbreakable place._

_Tell me more about the place._

_It's like a square cube, totally dark and enclosed, no light from anywhere. The wall felt solid and no sound could be heard at all. The ceiling is really high; we couldn't see it even when James lit the magic flame._

_So you were captured from somewhere in front of the castle??  
  
_

_Not directly in front. But further out. I can see the front view of the castle in the background. There was some sort of strange light coming from the place._

_If there's anything new, do fall asleep so I can meet up with you ok??_

_Thanks. But Stef, we're really hungry and dehydrated. Can you ask Triton to change our tails back to legs because we can't move around at all??_

_But he can't enter. Or maybe I get the Trident in??_

_A.s.a.p. please._

_Ok, be right back._

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Stefanie jerked and woke up and all of them jumped because it happened too quickly.

"Your Majesty, can I borrow the Trident to get their feet back??"

"Yes, just think what you want and it will appear." King Triton taught and handed Stefanie the Trident. Knowing that Lily and James were still alive and safe, they all heaved a sign of relief.

Stefanie held the Trident tightly in her hands and closed her eyes once again.

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_Lils._

_Yes, Stef, I'm here._

_Are your legs back??_

_No._

_I try again._

_Yes, I can feel my legs again._

_Now James._

_How??_

_Hold his hand??_

Lily waved her hands wildly, trying to find James' hand.

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"What do you want??" James asked Voldemort defiantly. Lily was still sleeping soundly on his scaly tail.

"I want your powers." Voldemort said in a deep and evil voice.

"I won't give you my powers." Lily hands were waving wildly which was rather distracting. James held both her hands and kept it down. Lily grasped onto his palm tightly and a rush of warmth traveled down his spine.

"You'll when you're left with no choice." Voldemort said with malevolence. "I shall see how long you can last here. Or perhaps how long this beautiful girl might last." With that, he disappeared into thin air.

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_I think he should get back his legs by now._

_If I wake up I might not drift to sleep again._

_I should be able to enter your thoughts by then since I roughly know where you two are._

_Please come and rescue us before we die of hunger._

_Let me see if I can get some food out._

_I can smell pizza._

_Same here._

"Lily, Lily, wake up." A soft male voice called out.

_Who's that??_

_Er.. I think its James._

_So I better wake up now._

_We'll be there soon. Hang on._

Lily fluttered her eyelids and once again, she saw the bespectacled brown eyes looking down at her. This time, it was warmer and gentler than before.

"Huh??" She felt a strange feeling passed through her as she looked into the soft hazel eyes.

"Are you alright??" James asked gently.

"Yeah, I'm ok. I just met Stef." Lily sat upright, though her shoulder was still feeling a little sore. She touched it and it healed miraculously.

"You dreamt??"

"She entered my dream."

"You told her everything??"

"Yes, they'll be here soon."

"So that's how we got our legs back and even some food??"

"Food??" Lily turned to her right and saw two big pizzas of her and Stefanie's favorite, supreme and Hawaiian toppings.

"Let's eat something before we can't." James took a slice and handed it to Lily.

"What do you mean??" Lily asked and started eating.

"Voldemort was here."

"Oh. Then what happened??"

"He wants our powers."

"And??"

"Of course I refused."

"Then??"

"Then he vanished. I think he apparated off."

"Then can we try to apparate out??"

"Why didn't we think of that sooner??" The two tried to concentrate to apparate to Potters' Manor but unsuccessful.

"We can't apparate out."

"There must be some enchantment blocking apparation."

"Let's try to find another way." Lily said hopefully and took another slice of pizza for James.

"Thanks." Suddenly there was a shot of pain went through his right shoulders and he dropped the pizza onto his lap.

"Your shoulders are hurting. Let me." Lily said and put her hand over James' sore shoulders. A rush of cool sensation engulfed him and then his shoulders healed in a moment.

"Thanks. It's fine now." James said, moving his arms wildly.

"Let's eat. We need as much energy as possible."

"Lily." James looked at Lily with hope.

"Yes??" Lily looked straight into James' eyes.

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"They're fine for the moment." Stefanie said exhaustedly. It was really mentally tiring to enter into another person's thought for prolonged period of time and even performed non-wand magic.

"So how are we going to get there??" Sirius asked.

"I don't think they could apparate out, right??" Remus asked Stefanie.

"They said they checked many options. I didn't ask about the apparation."

"I'm sure they thought of that." Sirius said.

"I don't think we can apparate in either. We don't even know where the place is."

"But if we're sure where Voldemort is, we can find out their hiding place."

"I've an idea but I'm not sure if it works." Dumbledore said suddenly. "We had never tried that before."

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"I-I think, erm, your hair is quite messy." James finally said. _Idiot me. Why can't I just say it??_

"Huh??" Lily said, putting down her half-eaten pizza and running her fingers through her messy and tangled hair to neaten it. _For a moment I thought he was going to say he liked me or something like that. I must be thinking too much._ "How is it now??" Lily smiled at James.

"Good, better." James agreed, mentally scolding himself. _I'm such a chicken._

"Let's eat more. I'm sure they'll be coming to save us soon." Lily said hopefully.

"Ok." James did not know what else to say. He was too busy chiding himself in his head.

"Er, Lils." James started again.

"Hmm??" Lily said. "Eat more. We need the energy."

"Ok." James helped himself to another slice of pizza absentmindedly.

"Oh ya, what did you want to say??" Lily asked. _Part of me hope he would say he likes me. But then this isn't exactly my idea of a place where I want a guy to tell me he like me. Argh, confusion._

"Nothing much actually." James gave a small smile. "Just want to know – know what did Stefanie said – in your sleep." _Stupid!! Stupid!! Stupid!!_

"Oh. That." Lily said, trying not to sound disappointed. _I must be thinking too much. James going to say he like me?? Hahaha.. What a thought. But then, how did that Harry come about if he wasn't our son?? Ahh.. I'm going bonkers._ "She said – they'll try to save us soon. But mostly she was asking about how we ended up here and everything."

"I see." James looked down on the floor. The pizza he was chewing was not traveling down his digestive system as smoothly as always.

"You alright??" Lily asked with concern.

"I'm fine." James mustered up his usual smile. "Let's think what else we can do to escape while waiting for them to save us."


	69. Rescue Team

**Chapter 68: Rescue Team**

"So we are using Remus traveling back time ability where we can follow Lily and James??" Stefanie repeated. Dumbledore had just told them his idea on how they can track where Lily and James would end up and traveled back so they would find out where their hideout was.

"Yes. This seems the most feasible solution." King Triton agreed.

"We won't let Remus go alone." Sirius said. "I'll go with him."

"We will all go together." Arabella said, joining hands with Stefanie.

"I believe you all have the ability to do things we can't imagine of." Dumbledore smiled and winked at them. "Remember, don't do anything rash. Come back first so we can discuss further plans."

"Yes, sir." The four agreed.

"We need the bubblehead charm." Stefanie reminded. Now the four bubble-headed teens held hands tightly with one another and closed their eyes.

Remus concentrated very hard and traveled back time into the Undersea City. They had to reach the period whereby the five of them were drugged and Lily was wondering by herself.

_Wooossshhh!!_

They ended up in front of the castle. From their hidden place, they saw Lily swimming out from one of the ledges in the castle.

Sirius pointed upwards and the group moved forward from the bottom, keeping an eye on Lily.

"Wait!!" Remus held out his hands to prevent them from moving forward. At some distance away, they saw the present day James, Sirius and Remus in fish tail swimming towards the castle, carrying a basket along with them.

"We can kill the mermen who gave us that dung." Sirius attempted to swim forward but held back by Arabella and Stefanie whilst Remus blocked his way.

After the tailed-James, Sirius and Remus swam into the castle; they quickly swam forward to keep an eye of Lily. Lily was now talking to a blue and yellow fish.

"A talking fish??" Sirius talked in his bubble. After that Lily swam along with the fish for some time, she stopped to talk to someone below her. Then she continued swimming through the corals and buildings and fishes.

"She's going there." Stefanie pointed at a darker part of the sea but there were shiny stuffs, which seemed to attracted Lily's attention. From their angle, they noticed that there were several mermen at the corner appearing to be eyeing Lily closely.

"They're the ones who gave us the food, right??" Sirius asked Remus. Though unable to hear him, Remus had understood what Sirius was asking and nodded.

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"James, how do you think we would escape from this place??" Lily asked. They had tried every possible charm and spell to hit different parts of the wall but it refused to bulge.

"Frankly I don't have any more idea than you do." James admitted. They were mentally tired after brainstorming all the unsuccessful solutions.

"Actually we know we're going to die in Voldemort's hands some day, it's not surprising this is the time."

"Not possible. We don't have Harry yet." James said absentmindedly and tried to look at the topless room. _What other ways can we escape?? Top?? Fly??_ Lily blushed upon the statement but kept quiet. "Are there any charms that can make us fly??"

"Huh?? Er.." Lily racked her brains trying to remember any possible charms that make them float and fly. "Pardon me for being stupid, but I don't have any recollection of charms that we were taught that can make us fly or float besides the dear old Wingardium Leviosa. What makes you think there's an exit from the top??"

"Then how about the _untaught _ones??" James asked, apparently not hearing Lily's question.

"Actually I think there's one, but it's kinda complicated and I didn't learn it by heart."

"Shall we try??"

"I would rather not. No confidence about it."

"So we wait here for the rest to come and rescue us??"

"I'm sure they will. I trust them."

"I trust them too. But the longer we stay the more dangerous everything is going to be."

"I know. Now we're left with hope." Lily gave a weak smile.

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"Look!!" Stefanie pointed. A group of mermen were advancing towards Lily.

As much as they wanted to save Lily at that point of time, they knew it was unwise to mess with time. So all they could do was watch the helpless Lily got knocked unconscious and carried away.

They let the kidnappers swam forward with Lily floating unconsciously in the middle. They had to swim faster because the mermen, having tails, were traveling at a much higher speed than them. But at the same time they had to hide from them behind the rocks and corals.

"Where are we??" Arabella asked, frowning. The only response was from Stefanie who gave a shrug because they had moved so far from their original spot until they lost the way.

"They are swimming upwards." Remus pointed at the group who were moving upwards. From their distance, they swam upwards, keeping a close eye on Lily.

"Deatheaters." Sirius said. When the group of mermen reached the shore, their tails became legs again and they magicked Lily floating along in their middle.

"Let's go." Remus said. The four ran towards the nearest tree and hid behind while watching the group of black-cloaked Deatheaters moving further and further from the shore.

"Where could they be going??" Stefanie whispered barely audible.

"Volcano's hideout??" Sirius answered.

"Let's move along." Remus said, the group moved silently among the trees.

"This is the time when invisibility charm is really needy." Arabella muttered.

"If we can do it, they can do it too." Stefanie pointed out.

"I know, but, well, never mind. Let's go." Arabella said and followed the two guys closely.

"What deserted place is this??" Sirius asked quietly. The place they saw was a dilapidated house standing in the middle of the forest. The whole place looked so gloomy and there was an evil aura around which made them shivered, both out of cold and creepiness.

"Look!! Those Deatheaters are coming out again." Arabella pointed out.

"We better head back to report to Dumbledore." Stefanie said. They held their hands tightly together and closed their eyes.

Remus, once again, concentrated on Dumbledore's office. It was not as difficult as traveling to other places because he had been time traveling around Dumbledore's office for over a year already.

"Professor!!" They screamed.

"Calm down and tell me what happened." Professor Dumbledore made the group calmed down and Sirius started narrating the whole story of what they saw while the rest filled in the details.

 "So it's indeed Voldemort." Dumbledore frowned. "Right now, we shall go to the place together."

"I'll go with you all." King Triton offered.

"But this time we can only go unless we're sure James had already been captured." Dumbledore pointed out.

"We can wait there, can't we??" Stefanie suggested.

"Yes, so the plan is one we know James is captured, then we shall enter."

"Not so soon. He might not have them locked up yet." Dumbledore reasoned. "We should have a time lapse of about half an hour."

"When I talked to Lily I think about two hours had passed since they were captured."

"This particular room appeared to be harder to enter than I expected."

"I'm quite sure it was filled with dark charms. Lily mentioned that they had did all sort of jinxes and hexes and nothing worked."

"But how did they enter in the first place??"

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"Hey, so if we can get out of here safely, will you go on a - date with me??" James asked casually though he was trying to find the right words to ask. _Finally I asked._ There was no response from Lily. "Lily??" He turned and faced a sleeping Lily once again.

_She's asleep again._ James was disappointed. He had tried to ask the most awkward question in the worst situation and she, had snoozed off. He moved closer to her and gently placed her head on his right shoulder and left it there. Meanwhile he was fighting off the urge to sleep, with Voldemort lingering around, it would never be safe to close their eyes.

_This place is so silent; I can't hear anything besides Lily's breathing. Where could we be??_

"Hmm.." Lily stirred beside him continued napping.

_Trust Lily to sleep when danger is lurking around. _James smiled as he looked at Lily's sleeping face.

Minutes tickled by slowly. James was staring aimlessly at the empty room; ideas were running dry and energy running out.

"James??" Lily called out sleepily. Her head was still lying on James' right shoulder.

"Huh??"

"How long had we been here??"

"I don't know. Perhaps three hours??"

"It felt like so long." Lily said without much energy.

"Are you alright??" James placed his hand on Lily's forehead.

"I'm fine. Just feeling a little weak."

"Your forehead is so hot!!" James exclaimed anxiously. "You're running a fever!!"

"I think so." Lily said, still with her eyes closed. "I'm feeling the symptoms."

"Can you heal yourself??"

"I don't have the energy to."

"Better get some sleep then." James tore a bit of his dirtied white tee shirt and transfigured it into a blanket, and then he covered Lily with it.

"Thanks."

"Don't mention it." James said softly. "Are you sure you are comfortable like that??"

"Yes, it's ok. Thanks."

"You don't look comfortable, how about my lap??" James offered and patted his muscular thighs.

"Ok. Thanks." Lily shifted and now her head was resting on James' right thigh. Within a few minutes, she fell asleep once again.

James pulled up the transfigured blanket onto her neck and made sure it had covered Lily's entire body.

_Hmm.. this place isn't too hot or too cold. It's of room temperature. _James tried to analyze the situation since he had nothing better to do besides looking at Lily. _Maybe that isn't a wall at all. A magical illusion. _James frowned as he thought of that possibility. _What could be used to deal with such illusions??_

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"Professor, how are we going to enter??" Sirius spoke softly. Remus had just transported them back to where Lily and James were held captives in the dilapidated house, which stood in the middle of the dark eerie forest.

"Voldemort would definitely have dark enchantments all around. I won't be surprised that he had felt our presence by now." Dumbledore said grimly.

"There are so many of us, we won't lose to him and his Deathies." Sirius said boldly.

"Let's enter it the same way as the other Death – Deathies enter." King Triton said, slightly amused at the way Sirius had called the Deatheaters.

"Wands ready??" Dumbledore reminded the four teenagers. "Don't forget to use your powers as well."

"Yes, sir." The four teens chorused with determination to rescue their two friends.

"Let's go then." Dumbledore instructed and the six headed towards the entrance of the run-down house.

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"How are you feeling??" James asked softly. Lily was still lying on his lap, which was already numbed.

"I'm fine." Lily replied feebly, barely awake and opened her eyes.

"Better get back to sleep." James said gently, touching Lily's messy red hair, which was scattered on his lap.

"Ok."

_If this is really a magical disillusion, I can't tell Lily, Voldemort is bound to hear the conversation and make it even more difficult for them to rescue us._

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"Till we meet again." Voldemort's voice echoed in the room. They had just entered the deceiving dilapidated house into a large room and came face-to-face with Voldemort and his crew of Deatheaters. Besides verbal war, there was no damage done on either side. Voldemort and his Deatheaters had apparated off, knowing that they were of no fight with Dumbledore and King Triton.

"Professor, how are we going to rescue them??" Stefanie asked anxiously. They saw Lily and James in a small cubical glass-like casing on the wooden table at the center of the room.

"This is more difficult than we thought." Arabella said in a worried tone. Lily and James were enclosed in the tiny glass-like box, which was about thirty by thirty centimeters.

"This is the disillusion box." Dumbledore said in forbidding tone.

"What is a disillusion box??" Remus asked.

"It's a rare box that evil wizards used to hold their captives." Stefanie explained. "It will let them have a made-belief that they're in a room or something while the captor watch them from outside without them knowing what's going on."

"And how do we rescue them from inside??" Sirius asked.

"In order to open the box, one of us has to give up our magical ability." Arabella answered.

"WHAT??" Sirius and Remus exclaimed. Arabella and Stefanie looked at each other and nodded.

"They're right." Dumbledore said sadly. "The creator of this box had made it this way in hoping that it would not land in the wrong hands. And unfortunately some of them did."

"Most of them had been destroyed by the Ministry centuries ago but some had been hidden and remained in existence." Arabella looked at Dumbledore and then back to her friends.

"I never did expect Voldemort would own one of this." Dumbledore shook his head.

"So what happen to the person who give up their magical ability??" Remus asked.

"The person would be no different from a squib. Can't perform magic at all." Stefanie said softly. The silence among them was deafening.

"Yes, and that would be me." Arabella said. She exchanged a knowing look with Stefanie.

"No, I'll do it." Sirius spoke out.

"I'll do it. I'll be better off as a squib." Remus called out.

"NO, Remus, I do it."

"I do it."

"You can't."

"Why not??"

"You're going to be a Professor while I'm going in Azkaban."

"That's off the point."  
  


"Stop!!" Dumbledore said, shutting the two boys immediately. Sirius and Remus turned to face Dumbledore immediately. "Listen to what Arabella has to say."

"I'll be the one to do this. Though I'm going to be a squib, I'll not lose contact with the magical community. You'll see what I mean as the time goes by." Arabella spoke while the rest listened to her. "My ability can't come in use when fight Volcano and his Deathies. You guys have the most amazing powers, all I could do is nothing but foretell the future." Stefanie gave her an encouraging squeeze on her shoulders. "I'll use my powers to rescue Lily and James who will give birth to a boy who will save us all from Voldemort. He's the one to end it all. I'm just part of the whole thing in Volcano's defeat. So let me do what I'm supposed to do."

"But Bell, we don't want you to lose your magical ability." Sirius pointed out.

"I'm sure you don't want to lose yours either."

"With a family like mine, it doesn't really matter."

"What about your uncle?? He had his hopes on you. You can't let him down."

"You can't let Professor Plain down either, you're her only daughter."

"She won't. She will tell me that this is the right thing to do."

"She isn't even here."

"She is my mother."

"Please, don't argue at a time like this." Remus stopped the arguing pair once again. "How about we bring this box back to Hogwarts??"

"We can't." Dumbledore said. "Moving the box will only hurt the people inside."

"Let's not waste time." Arabella spoke up. "Lily doesn't look well inside." They turned to look at Lily, whose head was on James' lap and he was caressing her hair.

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"Lily, your forehead is burning." James said worriedly.

"I'm fine." Lily mumbled unconvincingly.

"Don't keep saying you're fine when you're not!!" James said in a louder voice than usual.

"Sorry. But I don't want you to be worried or something."

"Sorry. Do you know high fever can burn off memories??"

"I know. You'll forget some stuffs right??"

"I don't want you to forget me again."

"Actually I already remembered our past that time when I was hit by the surfboard."

"You did??"

"Yeah, sort of."

"Really??"  
  


"I heard your voice ringing in my head. Old memories flashed across my mind while I was in the water."

"Why didn't you tell me earlier??"

"Aren't we already good friends without the old memories??"

"Yes, but still, I want to know you remembered me."

"I won't forget you, don't worry."

"So you don't like Remus anymore??"

"Huh??"

"Remus well, kinda told me that you had a crush on him after you forgot about me. Er.. Stef told him."

"Argh.. It was just a passing remark."

"That's great."

"What??"

"Nothing."

"Ok."

"They'll be here soon."

"I hope so."

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"Bell." Stefanie held Arabella's hand as she held out her wand pointing at the disillusioned box.

"Don't worry, Stef." Arabella put on her usual smile rather forcefully. "I'll be alright." Stefanie loosened her grip from Arabella's hand and stepped backwards to join where Sirius, Remus, Dumbledore and King Triton stood.

A large purple spark shot out from Arabella's wand and hit the disillusioned box. The purple light was so blinding that they had to shield their eyes.

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"What's that light??" Lily asked, trying to open her eyes in the glaring light.

"I don't know." James said in a strained voice. He carried Lily into his arms and held her tight.

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"Lily.." Arabella called out weakly. She dropped her wand on the floor and fell backwards. Sirius dashed forward and caught her just before she fainted.

"BELL!!" Stefanie ran forward to support her friend. "Wake up."

"Professor, is she alright??" Sirius asked apprehensively.

"She fainted out of exhaustion." Dumbledore held Arabella's hand up.

"Not in danger or anything??"

"Don't worry." Dumbledore looked down at Arabella's perspiring face.

"Let's get out of here." King Triton said urgently.

"Hold hands." Remus called out. The group came together to join James and Lily and they held each other hands tightly. With the usual spinning, they ended up back in Dumbledore's office within a minute.

"Take them to the hospital wing." Dumbledore told Remus and Stefanie. The six teens left Dumbledore's office and made their way towards the infirmary in their fastest speed with James and Sirius carrying Lily and Arabella respectively. Luckily it was late in the night, no one was around the corridors, and they were able to reach Madam Pomfrey without many obstacles.

"Madam Pomfrey!!" Stefanie and Remus shouted into the hospital wing.  
  


"Ssshhhh!!" Madam Pomfrey came running out in her nightwear looking groggy. "My patients are -"

"Please help them!!" Stefanie pleaded.

"Come in, come in. Go straight to the last two beds." Madam Pomfrey instructed. A couple of other patients were awakened from the noise and Madam Pomfrey shooed them back to sleep again, drawing their dividing curtains again. "What happened??" She asked the four conscious teens in a low voice.


	70. By Her Side

**Chapter 69: By Her Side**

"Poor thing." Madam Pomfrey said, shaking her head sadly. She was examining Arabella's condition as Remus told her a brief summary of their encounters. Meanwhile, Stefanie soundproofed the part of the hospital wing where they were talking rather loudly.

"Will she be fine??" Sirius asked in anxiety.

"She's fine. Faint of exhaustion." Madam Pomfrey replied. "I check on her again when she's up again."

"How's Lily??" James asked with deep concern. Madam Pomfrey was now examining the unconscious Lily after Arabella.

"She's running a fever." Madam Pomfrey said after touching Lily's forehead and neck. "I get the potion for her." With that, she left the youngsters alone to fetch a potion.

"By the way, what happened to Bell??" James asked suddenly. He was sitting by Lily's side ever since he laid her down on the bed.

"She lost her magical powers." Sirius said miserably, looking at the stilled Arabella. "In order to save you two."

"Oh Merlin!!" James exclaimed in shocked. "That isn't true, is it??"

"Yes, Padfoot is right. Bell gave up her powers to open the Disillusion Box." Remus added.

"What Disillusion box??" James questioned.

"It's a rare box which dark wizards used to keep their captives. Most of them were destroyed centuries ago, but some remained in existence." Remus explained since Sirius was not capable of doing much talking at that moment.

"You and Lily were kept inside and Voldemort was watching you from outside." Stefanie added.

"But he appeared inside the box before."

"The box is only this size." Remus explained and using hand gesture to show how big the box was. "You two were only the height of my fingers inside."

"But it didn't felt like it."

"The box can only be opened when someone give up their magical ability. To prevent misuse." Stefanie told James. "It was used to keep prisoners before Azkaban came about some centuries ago."

"Oh, Bell was so foolish. How could she??"

"She knew she had to do it."

"Why did you say that??"

"She already had foreseen many things. But if she told you all what might happen, then if we prevent it, the harm will come in another way."

"But at least she should have told us." Sirius argued.

"She only told Lils and me. Not everything, only some. But she never tells us how she would lose her powers."

"She's so foolish. It could be prevented."

"No, it can't. If this didn't happen, something worst would. This is why future must not be known. It's just against the nature of things."

"But at least she should have prevent losing her powers or something."

"We had asked her if there is another alternative route, but no. It's either she lose her power or one of us would. And she had chose to be the one."

"That's Bell, always so thoughtful about others and not herself."

"I wonder how will Lily digest this news."

"She already knows Bell is going to lose her power, right??"

"But she didn't know it was indirectly because of her."

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"Good morning, my dears." Madam Pomfrey had come into the hospital wing in the morning and woke the four of them who were sleeping on their conjured couches. "Will you get back to your dorm and get some proper rest??"

"We want to stay by their side." James said. He had been resting his head on Lily's bed ever since he dozed off. Now the right side of his face had reddish imprints due to his hand and the bed.

"They're going to be fine, I promise." Madam Pomfrey said. "You few had already missed your lessons for two weeks, better do some catching up today before going for lessons again tomorrow."

"We'll be able to catch up in no time." Sirius said, starting to wake up. The two usual sound sleepers were awake even before Remus, which was usually the other way round. Stefanie was leaning on Remus' right shoulder and both of them were still in their undisturbed rest.

"You few had been through so much in the last two weeks, I would rather you all to have a good rest in your dorm than to stay here. They won't be awake so soon."

"We will leave at lunch time."

"Ok, I take your word for that." Madam Pomfrey said. "Otherwise I shall personally send you up to your dorm."

"That would be really _sweet_ of you, Madam Pomfrey." Sirius added.

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"Didn't you few promised to leave by lunchtime??" Madam Pomfrey had come in to check on the two girls as well as the few rugged teens again.

"I didn't. It was James." Sirius pointed out.

"You or James. Same thing." Madam Pomfrey shook her head. "That goes for you two as well."

"I stay alone and keep them company in case they wake up." Stefanie pleaded.

"Nonono. I insist that all of you need proper rest." Madam Pomfrey said firmly. "Especially you." She looked at Remus knowingly.

"There's still three days more." Remus said softly.

"Ok, I'm ordering you four to head back to your dormitory to rest _now_!!"

"Guys, I think we better head back now." Stefanie ushered the three guys to follow her. _Lils and Bell definitely need to talk alone when they wake up._

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"Wormtail, we're back." James called out as the three guys entered their dormitory with their backpacks.

"Looks like he's not around." Remus said, accioing his clothes and towel to the bathroom with him.

"Who said you can bathe first??" Sirius said, making a dash to the bathroom.

"You didn't say you want to bathe in the _first_ place." Remus commented and the two guys were standing side by side at the bathroom door.

"Don't argue already." James said from the back. "I'm going in first." He dashed into the bathroom in the blink of an eye and shut the door after him.

"PRONGS!!"

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"Stef!! What happened to you??" Joey exclaimed as Stefanie stepped into their dormitory.

"Too much things had happened." Stefanie said monotonously.

"Better get a shower." Samantha said. "You looked so shacked." She helped Stefanie to carry her backpack to her bedside.

"Thanks." Stefanie said and sat down on the nearest chair.

"Where's Lils and Bell??" Joey asked.

"Hospital wing." Stefanie said. "Mind I tell you next time?? I'm really tired and I hasn't had a decent shower in ages."

"Sure thing." Joey said understandingly. "Better get some rest."

"Thanks!!" Stefanie said gratefully. "I'm really glad to have roommates like you."

"That's what roommates are for." Joey smiled.

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_"Hey, so if we can get out of here safely, will you go on a - date with me??" A familiar male voice asked._

_"I will." Strange, why did I agree when I don't know who is the person asking me. His voice is strangely familiar and comforting._

_And he smells like Hogwarts hospital ward. What a strange scent. _Lily tossed around in the bed, messing up the blankets that were covering her.

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_Arabella my dear._

_Mum??_

_The day that turns your life has come._

_Yes. I know. I always know this day would come._

_I just want you to know that whether you're a witch or muggle, I'll still be there._

_Thanks mum._

_Your life would be greatly affected do you know that??_

_I know. I lead a muggle life for eleven years, then a witch for five years, and back to being the boring old muggle again._

_Life is full of twists and turns._

_I understand that._

_I'm glad your thinking is more mature than I thought._

_Maybe because I've the 'eye' for so many years, unlike other girls._

_Well, I think it might be a good thing that your powers are gone. It's a burden for us._

_It had been useful._

_It definitely is, to some extent._

_I was always wondering, why did you teach DADA instead of Divination??_

_Because besides Dumbledore, no one knows that I'm a seer. Sybil did asked before, but she was never sure whether I was one._

_She's a fraud??_

_No, she did have the gift. But it's not as strong as us. She can only see things to a certain extent. The simpler stuffs actually._

_Then why did Dumbledore hire her??_

_Kids shouldn't know so much, ya know?? You need rest. It's exhausting to drain you from magical powers._

_How long have I been sleeping??_

_A day. But you need more than just a day of sleep._

_Oh no!! What happened to Lils and James??_

_Don't worry. They're fine._

_I want to wake up and see them._

_You can't. Your body won't allow you to wake._

_But I'm thinking. I'm talking to you._

_It's your soul that I'm talking to. Not your physical body._

_Then what am I supposed to do??_

_Just rest. You'll wake when the time comes._

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_I feel hungry. My stomach is growling. _Lily turned and laid on her right side of the body. _When was the time I last ate?? I don't remember._

Lily opened her eyes and blinked. _Where am I?? _Body aching slightly due to the stiffness, she struggled slightly to sit upright. She looked around. _This place looks so familiar._

"Hospital wing." Lily muttered to herself, finally processing where she was after a few second thoughts. She turned to get off the bed on her right. "Bell!!" Her good friend, Arabella was lying motionlessly on the bed next to her.

"Bell!!" Lily called her friend and held her hand. _It's warm. She's fine. _"What happened??" Lily felt herself getting weaker as she held Arabella's hand. _I'm absorbing her exhaustion. _After awhile, she could feel the tiredness creeping through her. She gave a lingering look at her friend and fell asleep instantly on her own bed again.

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_The exhaustion is draining off. Strange. How?? _Arabella stirred a little in a sleep. _A renewed energy ran through every nerve in her body. Weird sensation._

Arabella mustered enough energy to open her eyes. _Where am I?? Looks familiar. I've been here before. How did I end up here?? _She pushed herself to sit upright on the bed.

"Arabella dear, you're finally up." Madam Pomfrey had so coincidently checked on her at the right time.

"Yeah. What happened??" A confused Arabella asked.

"Don't think so much. Better have more rest." Madam Pomfrey shoved Arabella back and tucked her into bed while examining her at the same time.

"Huh. But I-" Arabella resisted.

"No buts. Drink this up." Madam Pomfrey instructed and shoved the goblet to Arabella's mouth, making her shut up and forced her to drink up the potion.

A gush of sleepiness ran through her and before she knew it, she was back to sleep once again.

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"It feels strange without Lils and Bell's presence." Stefanie commented. The Marauders and Stefanie were heading towards the Great Hall for their dinner. It was the Monday ever since they got back from their two weeks leave. Many students had asked them about what happened, especially the Marauders' admirers and unofficial Hufflepuff fan club. They, of course, kept mum about everything, even from Peter.

"Shall we go see them after dinner??" James suggested.

"Pomfrey said she'd inform us when they wake up."

"Poppy won't do that. She'll probably make them sleep again." Sirius commented.

"He's speaking from experience, trust him this time." Remus said, laughing slightly.

"Poppy always makes me drink that sleepy potion." Sirius complained. 

"That's because you can't be a good patient and sleep in the ward. Always try sneaking off when she's not watching."

"Yes, I'm fully aware that Poppy had noticed that. Especially it happens practically every time after major Quidditch practices."

"I believe she knows us too well." James laughed good-naturedly.

"That's the danger of being a Beater."

"Yes, she might do that to Lils and Bell too."

"I won't be surprised."

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"Just as I expected, they're still sound asleep." Sirius boasted.

"Yes, you're right." A familiar female voice said.

"Madam Pomfrey, you _drugged_ them, right??"

"That's too strong of a word. I only fed Arabella with the Sleeping Draught. Lily showed signs of exhaustion, I believed she woke up and tried to heal Arabella but was too weak herself."

"And then she fell back to sleep."

"That's right. It was not possible for Arabella to wake up that soon actually."

"And then you _forced_ her to sleep again??"

"It's for her own good. I don't really want my patients to _sneak_ off when I'm not watching."

"Not all patients do that."

"I'm just preventing the possibility."

"Looks like they won't be up until tomorrow at least."

"You're totally right."

"I supposed we should come back tomorrow."

"I assure you that they would be awake when you come back tomorrow evening."

"That would be great."

"Thanks Madam Pomfrey."

"Thanks Poppy."  
  


"Sirius, that's not for you to call."

"Oops, Poppy – Madam Pomfrey, jeez, thanks."

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"Bell??" Lily sat by Arabella's bed. It was in the afternoon and the first thought that stroke her was her friend's well-being. Arabella stirred in her sleep. Lily held up Arabella's hand and tried to heal her in any possible way.

"Lils??" Arabella mumbled weakly, opening her eyes.

"Bell, how are you feeling??" Lily asked, looking at Arabella's paled face. _Oh my god!!!_

"I'm fine. Just a little tired." Lily helped Arabella to sit upright. "Why are you looking at me with such a strange expression??"

"N-nothing." Lily looked away. The colour of midnight-blue eyes on Arabella was far too strange for Lily to accept but she did not know how to go about asking. Arabella had always been special, especially her eyes and she was thankful for that uniqueness.

"Is something wrong??" Arabella asked again.

"No." Lily gave a weak smile. "I'm just feeling tired. Anyway how did we end up here??"

"It – it's a long story. I want to know too."

"Ok. I'm really glad to see you again. I thought I was stuck at that strange place for life." Lily gave Arabella a bear hug gratefully.

"Yeah, you and James were trapped in the Disillusion Box."

"Disillusion box??"

"That's right."

"Then who gave up the magical ability??"

"I did." Arabella said softly.

"Oh no!!" Lily hugged her friend again, feeling utterly guilty and sorry. "You shouldn't have."

"It's alright. That's my destiny."

"Bell!!" Lily leaned forward and gave her friend a big hug.

"Lils, calm down. You're strangling me."

"Oops. Sorry."

"It's alright. That's you." Arabella gave a small laugh.

"I really don't know how to thank you for that."

"Didn't I tell you last time that I had to lose this magical ability??"

"You did. But you didn't tell us how."

"Because I don't want you to change the natural course of the events."

"If I know that's the case, we won't go to the Undersea City and I wouldn't have wondered off. It's all my fault." Lily's eyes were getting watery.

"Don't be like that. I'm fine. Who knows I might be happier this way??"

"I know you love being a witch and not a muggle."

"Well, I can always go back to the orphanage I grew up in to work or something. You don't need to worry about me."

"How could I not?? When you had done such a thing for me??"

"It's fate I supposed."

"But still-"

"Look, it had happened. It's all right. I'm fine. We're friends. That's all it matters."

"But you lost-"

"I lose some and might gain some. Who knows things might turn out to be a blessing in disguise??"

"I just don't know what to say." Lily gave Arabella another big hug.

"Hohoho. Did anyone see two girls _hugging_ and _sleeping_ on the same bed??" A deep male voice said with a tinge of amusement.

"I noticed that abnormality as well." James added, smiling slightly.

"Hey guys." Lily and Arabella smiled warmly at their friends.

"Hey, how're you feeling??" Remus asked in concern.

"Much better. How long have we been here??" Lily asked.

"Three days. Our dear old Poppy has so tirelessly been feeding you two with the Sleeping Draught."

"No wonder. I'm feeling quite hungry now."

"No big problem. Look what we got here for you??" All four of them held out bulging bags of foodstuffs and put it on the nearby bedside table.

"Wow. What are those??"

"Your lunch."

"You mean all our lunch."

"Of course we can't let you two eat alone here. No one can understand the loneliness in here as well as I do."

"Padfoot, aren't you getting yourself too much unnecessary sympathy??"

"I'm the most experienced here, ya know??"

"We know. The times you sleep here are comparable to our dorm."

"Glad that you noticed my absence at night."

"Frankly we're happier in your absence sometimes."

"Moony!! You're not supposed to be at his side!!"

"I'm just stating the facts."

"Hey!! Hey!! Marauders bickering in Hospital Wing!! News headlines!!"

"Yay!! We're in the headlines!!" Sirius jumped about in a silly manner.

"Hooray!! Headlines here we come!!" James jumped together with silly in a stupid but funny way. The seven of them started laughing because James and Sirius did look retarded in their actions.

"POTTER!! BLACK!! GET OFF THE BEDS NOW!!"

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"Thanks for everything!!" Lily said gratefully. The seven of them were gathered in the sixth-year boys' dormitory for a little gathering. The guys had updated Peter about the happenings over the few days. "I really don't know how to thank you all for rescuing me from Volcano's hand." Lily paused and looked at Arabella. "I'm feeling so guilty that Bell lost her powers because of me. And of course James and the rest of you." Lily stood up and gave a bow.

"You're making it so formal." James teased.

"No. I'm really grateful and sorry for everything."

"What meant to happen will happen somehow."

"If we try to stop it from happening deliberately. Things will happen in another way and the result would still be the same."

"You know the best thing that ever happened to me would be having friends like you."

"I thought it was the fact you're born with your hair red."

"Haha. James, very funny."

"I think the best thing that ever happened to be was being born with messy black hair."

"Oh yeah?? Who was the one who complained about messy hair for the last six years??"

"Who was the one who tried combing hair in front of the mirror all the time??"

"Who was the one who tried using all sorts of hair products to neaten your hair??"

"Who was the one who-" A pillow flew out of nowhere and hit Sirius on his face before he could finish his sentence. The three Marauders had been taking turns to tease James about his hair.

"So much for having messy black hair." Lily said and the girls laughed at the comical scene where the boys were doing the magicked pillow fight.


	71. Surprises

**Chapter 70: Surprises**

"We're going to miss you so much, you know??" Stefanie told Arabella. The three girls wanted to have a heart-to-heart session together without any disturbance and of course, they went straight to the Room of Requirement. This time it was equipped with three comfy couches with butterbeers that tasted similar to those in Three Broomsticks.

"So do I. The last five years were the most amazing time of my life." It was Arabella last week in Hogwarts before she would leave and return to the orphanage she had stayed before Hogwarts. Dumbledore had done all the necessary arrangements to make sure she would not feel uncomfortable leading a non-magical lifestyle.

"I don't think I can ever forgive myself for causing you to lose your magical ability." Lily said honestly.

"Lils, you know I never blame you for that??"

"I know. You're just so wonderful and nice."

"Anyway I'm going to enjoy myself in Hogwarts for the last week."

"We can ask Dumbledore to excuse us from lessons so we can accompany you for the whole week. We can go Hogsmeade too."

"We save that for the next weekend, together with the guys??"

"They probably go Hogsmeade so often until they had gotten bored of the place."

"Remember there's a secret passageway that leads all the way to Honeydukes."

"I nearly had forgotten about that tunnel."

"Lily and James discovered it."

"Someone made it first."

"Anyway it's nearly Christmas, maybe you can come back during that time??"

"That's a great idea, Lils."

"We can ask Dumbledore for permission."

"What did you Mum say about you leaving Hogwarts??"

"She knew about it. In fact she said we would meet up really soon again. But she didn't tell me when would that be."

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"It's a great idea." Remus agreed, laughing at the same time.

"Padfoot, this gotta be your best idea." James laughed.

"It's great, but feasible??" Peter spoke.

"Wormtail, no worries. It's me who mastermind this." Sirius boasted confidently.

"The problem why we should worry is because it's _you_ who mastermind it." Remus said as if it was the most obvious thing on earth.

"So when are we going to go about doing it??" James said in a faked serious tone.

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"Bell, I'm going to miss you so much!!" Samantha said and gave Arabella a big hug.

"Me too." Arabella's eyes were getting a little teary.

"It's so different if you're not around." Joey hugged Arabella tightly after Samantha released her. It was Monday evening and Arabella had skipped all the lessons for the day. Most of the student population was questioning Arabella's absence but no one knew what was the truth behind it.

 "I can't help it. I need to leave. Family matters." Arabella lied since it was impossible not to tell Joey and Samantha anything. She could not tell them the truth either.

"We're your friends. If you need any help, we'll be there." Joey said sincerely.

"Thanks." _I don't think you can help me in any way. _Arabella thought sadly but she mustered up the happiest smile she could.

"Shall we dress up together the night before you leave??" Samantha suggested.

"That's a great idea." Arabella smiled, her eyes shinning.

"So let's have a dressing up party this Friday??" Lily asked.

"No problem." The five girls had the same expression, knowing what one another was thinking.

_It's like the old times. I'm going to miss them so much. They're my friends, my closest girlfriends. _Arabella thought as she looked at each of her roommate, reminiscing the old times in her head.

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"Prongs and Wormtail, kitchens." Sirius instructed. "Moony, girls." The Marauders were having their usual Marauder's discussion, except this time it was not an ordinary prank, but an extraordinary birthday-cum-farewell present for Arabella.

"Yes, sir." The three guys pretended to salute to Sirius and left their dormitory.

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"So you two keep Bell busy until 6pm." Remus was telling Lily and Stefanie about the Marauder's plan for Arabella as they walked along the corridors, heading back to the Gryffindor tower after class on a Friday evening.

"So you guys planned this for very long??" Lily asked, touched by their gesture.

"Not really. It was ready last night." Remus laughed. "Relatively simple to go about doing it."

"What a havoc we're going to have tonight." Stefanie remarked.

"Make havoc an understatement for tonight." Remus teased.

"The most important is that Bell gotta enjoy herself."

"That's why Sirius suggested that."

"Sirius suggested??"

"Yes, it was his idea from the beginning."

"Wow. I didn't know Sirius would do a thing like this."

"Afterall those bickering with Bell for so many years, I believed he would miss her when she's gone."

"I know my bro will."

"Who knows what he might do tonight??"

"What do you mean??"

"Marauders do swear to secrecy."

"I'm your _girlfriend_."

"I can't tell a secret of my _best friends_."

"Sirius is my _brother_, or _cousin_ if you call it."

"Sirius is a _Marauder_ in case you forget."

"Alright. Fine."

"C'mon, don't be angry." Remus started tickling Stefanie, which she shrieked in ticklishness.

"I think I better make my move first." Lily laughed at the happy couple with a smile. _They must be the luckiest couple on earth. So sweet together._ She wondered off up the moving staircases towards Gryffindor tower. _Must catch Bell before she finds out about the party. _With that she walked at a faster pace.

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"Prongs, I'm meeting someone first. Catch ya later." Peter said and left the dormitory within a minute.

"Huh??" James shrugged and the door closed. _So what do I do now?? Already helped Sirius with the foodstuffs_. James looked over at the corner of the room where a heap of chips and finger food stacked up to a mini mountain in their dormitory. _Let me see where the rest are. _He dug out their priced Marauder's Map from the bottom of Sirius' trunk, knowing that he must had been the last person to use it.

"I solemnly swear I'm up to no good." James muttered with the wand tapping against the slightly old looking parchment. "Si, hmm, at the lake with Bell. Interesting. Rem and Stef, running around the fourth floor corridor together, expected. Pete, with Gracie, hmm. Lily alone." James studied the map for awhile, thinking a little." _So much for Remus informing the girls to keep Bell busy. First sign showing Padfoot's plan isn't all that smooth. _James gave a small laugh at the thought and disabled the map and then hid it under his trunk this time.

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_Bell leaving Hogwarts in just two days time. And I'm going to miss her so much. It would be really strange without her in our dorm. Everything would be so different. _Lily was not concentrating where she was walking because she could just reach the Pink Lady subconsciously. _I wonder how will she handle the life after Hogwarts. All those magical powers were gone, just because of my stupidity and impulse. _Lily climbed more stairs, barely missing the hole in the staircase. _Maybe I could check the library if there's anything I can do to regain her powers. _The thought of keeping Arabella busy until after dinner had totally slipped out of her mind as she turned and start making her way towards the library.

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_I thought Lily is heading towards the Gryffindor tower. _James looked around the moving staircase to check for any trace of a redhead heading upstairs. He walked aimlessly down the steps, greeting many people and stopping for small talks with some friends and his fans.

"Hey James."  
  


"Hi."

"Where are you heading??"

"To the – library."

"That's hardworking. It's Friday afternoon."

"Yeah, no choice. Need something from there."

"See ya around."

"Bye." James started walking again. He barely walked down three levels and he had already been stopped for six times. _Since I told who-knows-how-many people that I'm going to the library, maybe I just go there first then decide what to do._

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"Regaining magical ability." Lily muttered to herself as she browsed through the row of books in front of her. "Magic for Squibs." Her finger glided through the thick leather covers of the books, trying to find something useful. The library was usually less populated on Fridays and Saturdays when most of the students would be having fun other than a handful few who hang out their doing something known as homework.

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_The library is definitely a good hiding place on Friday afternoons. _James walked into the quiet library, giving a wave at the library behind the counter. _Hmm.. What book should I look for?? Transfig?? DA?? _He walked along the shelves of books aimlessly, looking for any book that might catch his eye from the shelves.

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"Learning Magic from Scratch." Lily mumbled and took out the book and flipped a few pages, found that it was useless and put it back on its original location and continued looking for another book.

"Lily??"

"Huh??" Lily looked up and saw James. "Hi James." She continued looking at title after title for a useful book.

"What are you doing here on a Friday afternoon??"

"People do patronize our dear old library in case you didn't know that."

"Of course I know. But I don't expect you to be here though."

"I suddenly thought that there might be some books in the library that can help Bell."

"Actually I don't think there's anything we can do. Dumbledore can't help her, what can we do??"

"You've got a point. But Dumbledore might not have read every book in the library."

"I'm sure he had read most of them."

"Well, at least I'm not giving up."

"I don't mean giving up or anything. Just that we've to accept reality."

"Reality is real cruel."

"That's reality. Otherwise we would be in fantasy."

"Oh, well."

"Let's get out for some fresh air."

"Alright then." Lily returned the book she was holding back to its original location and left the library with James. "Oh, I nearly forgot to go find Bell."

"You don't need to."

"Why not??"

"Sirius is with her now."

"Huh??"

"You know that Sirius?? He's with her now by the lake."

"How did you – oh, the map."

"That's smart of you."

"But why did Remus called Stef and I to keep her busy in the first place??"

"You know that it's Sirius' plan right??"

"Yup."

"And Sirius' plans had never go according to the plan."

"I didn't know that."

"Now you know."

"Yeah, now I know."

"Wanna go Hogsmeade for awhile??"

"Tomorrow is Hogsmeade weekend."

"Do you want to go and squeeze the Three Broomsticks with those younger kids??"

"We aren't that old, okay??"

"We're in sixth year already, in case you had forgotten."

"Thank you for reminding me that I'm old."

"We're old."

"Alright, alright. We actually wanted to ask you guys out to Hogsmeade tomorrow."

"Sounds cool. But we gotta be back by six for Bell's birthday-cum-farewell party."

"We've two hours to kill till six."

"Alright then, since I've nothing better to do." Lily said and started leading the way forward.

"Err, the statue is downstairs." James reminded and pointed at the staircase on their right.

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"You alright??" Sirius asked and took a seat beside Arabella. He had just checked the Marauder's Map and found Arabella alone by the lake and he had decided to offer his company.

"Who said you can sit here??" Arabella questioned with the lack of the usual bickering enthusiasm.

"I said so."

"Whatever."

"Don't look so gloomy."

"I'm not."

"It's written all over your face."

"You're lying."

"I'm not."

"I know you're going to miss this place and everything here. It's probably strange to stay with the muggles and stuffs. But you're one of the strongest girl I know. And I believe you can handle all these."

"Thanks. I think this is the best thing you actually said ever since I know you."

"Well, you merely didn't hear all my great quotes."

"Okok, the Great One, do you mind keeping quiet??"

"Frankly, I _do_ mind keeping quiet."

"Give me some peace, I beg you."

"Sad to say, you're receiving none." Sirius started tickling Arabella's sides making her jumped in shock.

"SIRIUS!!"

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"Where are the guys??" Stefanie asked Remus as they came back to Gryffindor tower after their walk. They were alone in the boys' dormitory, wanting to get ready for their evening surprise party.

"No clue." Remus shrugged. "I get the map." He started rummaging Sirius' trunk, and then proceeded to James' before fishing out an old parchment out.

"I can see that it's very well used." Stefanie eyed the dog-eared parchment.

"That's an understatement." Remus said and tapped the empty parchment whispering 'I solemnly swear I am up to no good'. "James and Lily are not in Hogwarts. Sir and Bell are at the lake -"

"What are they doing at the lake??"

"I don't know. The two dots are sticking together and it's not moving."

"Could they be kissing??"

"I won't be surprised."

"Neither will I." Remus whispered and pulled Stefanie closed to him and kissed her gently on the lips.

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"Why are you walking so slowly??" Lily asked as she brisk walked along the tunnel that would lead them back to Hogwarts. "It's already six."

"Trust me. The guys are far from punctual, especially when Sirius is the one who decided the time."

"But still-"

"Let me predict – Sirius and Bell kissing at the Astronomy Tower and-" James pretended to be concentrating hard by putting his index fingers on his temples. "Remus and Stef strolling hand-in-hand by the lake – and Peter making out with Gracie in the Broom Closet."

"Okok, the Great Fortune Teller." Lily laughed at James' pretended predictions. "At least someone need to get the stuffs ready."

"Are you referring to us??"

"Duh."

"The Great Fortune Teller foresees that two prefects from Gryffindor are working hard."

"Dumbledore had said about making Remus prefect instead since you aren't exactly a role model."

"He won't do that to me."

"You never know what goes in Dumbledore's mind." Lily remarked as they reached the end of the tunnel.

"Dissendium." James said and peeked out to check the coast. "Clear."

"Let's go then." The duo crawled out of the door and closed it quickly after them.

"Hey Lily." A male voice called out from the back.

"Oh, hi Amos." Lily said nonchalantly.

"I thought I just saw you two popped out of nowhere." Amos commented, trying to strike a conversation.

"You must be seeing things."

"I was actually looking for you."

"What's up??"

"Just wondering if you want to go Hogsmead with me tomorrow??"

"Sorry, I can't. Got plans."

"With James??" Amos eyed James with a tinge of jealousy.

"Yeah, with James." Lily smiled sweetly, throwing a look at James, hoping he would cooperate with her.

"Yes, we've plans for tonight, tomorrow, the day after and for the rest of our lives."

"Alright then, I see you around." Amos told Lily sweetly, giving James' a killing look. Then he turned and left the two alone at the corridor again.

"Thanks." Lily said gratefully. "He's so irritating."

"Haha, I get rid of him for you once and for all."

"Yes, thank you very much."

"So how do you show your appreciation??"

"Hmm.. treating you Butterbeers next time we go Hogsmeade??"

"Just like that??"

"Then what do you expect??"

"Marry me??" James said, studying Lily's reaction.

"Huh??" Lily was shaken by the comment.

"Just kidding." James laughed at Lily's expression.

"You gave me a shock."

"That would happen eventually anyway." James said truthfully. Lily was blushing rather furiously and looked in front instead of James. "You're blushing."

"I'm not." Lily could feel her face getting hotter.

"You are. Don't deny."

"I'm not." Lily looked away. "We're getting late." She started walking briskly several steps ahead of James.

"Wait for me."

"You're walking too slowly."

"You're the fast one." James slow jogged forward to catch up with Lily. The twosome walked in silence back to the Gryffindor tower because Lily was too flushed by James' remark to say anything.

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"What's going on??" A first year asked as the five sixth years were setting up the common room with party materials.

"We're going to have a party tonight." James announced to everyone in the common room.

"What party??" Another first year asked.

"A surprise party." Remus told him. The five of them were rearranging the furniture to make a space for dancing and setting the food.

"Sound exciting." A third year girl commented while the rest of her friends giggled. Apparently they were one of the many Marauders' admirers out there.

"It is going to be exciting." James said. "All the Gryffindors are invited!!" There were several cheers erupted from various parts of the room. The parties that the Marauders' organized had been proven to be the most exciting ones in the history of Gryffindors.

"That's so cool." A fifth year prefect commented.

"Where's Sir and Bell??" Lily asked the rest after they finished setting up everything.

"Everyone, please get your fellow Gryffindors to the common room." James announced to those remaining in the room watching their preparations. Most of the students obeyed and headed to their respective dormitories.

"You're really influential." Stefanie told James.

"The Marauders are always influential. Hasn't Remus showed enough of his powers??" James joked.

"I know he is. But I didn't know you are as well."

"Oh well, now you know." James said in pretended shock. "Considering we've been childhood friends."

"James, you go and get Bell??"

"Ok." James said and headed out of the Gryffindor tower.

"I'm going to darken the place, when the door open, we'll shout 'Happy Birthday Arabella, we miss you'. Ok??"

"How're you going to darken the place??"

"It's Arabella's birthday??"

"How do we know if the person entering next will be them??

"Save the questions for the future. And the next person to enter will definitely be them because Lily is outside standing guard."

The big crowd waited impatiently in the dark with occasional murmurings.

"What's taking them??" Someone called out.

After another few minutes, the door opened. Arabella was the first to enter and with that cue, the lights came on and everyone shouted 'Happy Birthday Arabella, we miss you'. Confetti had been charmed to drop from above.

"Oh my – Thank you very much." Arabella said, touched by the gesture of her fellow Gryffindors. "Thank you so much." Her voice was shaking and happy tears seemed to be falling uncontrollably.

"Let the party begin!!" Sirius shouted out. Music suddenly blasted out from nowhere and filled the entire common room. "May I lead you to the dance floor??" Sirius held out his hand for Arabella.

"Sure." Arabella smiled and took his hand. Together they make their way towards the center of the 'dance floor' with the crowd parting for them to enter.

"Let's party!!" James said. "Wanna dance??" He held out his hand for Lily.

"Ok." Lily took James' hand and they made their way to the dance floor and started dancing. Within five minutes, many couples were dancing to the song In Love With You.

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"Look at Bell and Sir, they seems to be unusual intimate today." Stefanie whispered to Remus. Not too far away, Sirius and Arabella were dancing very closed together; they seemed to be deep in conversation, whispering at each other's ear.

"Do you want to be intimate with me as well??" Remus asked cheekily.

"What're you thinking of??" Stefanie replied in a seductive tone.

"Like this." Remus leaned forward to kiss Stefanie on her lips.

"You're deprived of kissing today." Stefanie whispered breathlessly.

"I'll never get enough of kissing you." Remus looked into Stefanie's blue-green eyes and kissed her again.

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"I'm going to miss you so much." Sirius said honestly as the two of them swayed together with the music.

"Thanks for everything. Who knows what might happen in the future??"

"Bell, I don't know why I had waited so long for this. And now you're leaving."

"I think I had foreseen something that we might be together before but I don't remember."

"It's ok. I'll be around for you."

"Thanks."

"May I have a dance with this stunning beauty??" A male voice interrupted.

"Sure Samuel." Arabella said politely, releasing Sirius.

"No – Alright then." Sirius said, releasing Arabella for Samuel Finnigan, a seventh year. He walked over towards the table to get a drink while waiting for Arabella to finish the song Tale As Old As Time before returning to her. From his angle, he could see Arabella dancing and talking animatedly with Samuel. A gush of jealousy rose inside him as he watched the couple at the dance floor.

_Bell should be dancing with me and not Samuel._ Sirius put down his cup of drink and returned to the dance floor towards Arabella.


	72. On The Dancefloor

**Chapter 71: On the Dancefloor**

"Stef and Remus look cute together." Lily commented as she danced to the song I Do Cherish You with James.

"They certainly do." James agreed.

"Hey, look at Bell and Sirius." Lily said excitedly. "They seldom talk so civilly to each other."

"This is certainly unusual."

"Samuel is asking Bell for a dance now." Lily looked at Arabella's direction, not noticing James' eyes were fixed on her throughout.

"That's nice."

"Bell is dancing with him now. Poor Sirius."

"Poor thing."

"Hey, why are you sounding so bored in the conversation??"

"I'm not." James defended. "Just not interested in other people's business."

"They're not other people." Lily answered back. "They're my friends."

"Our friends, you mean."

"Yeah. And Sirius have this jealous look on his face." Lily laughed at Sirius a little, still not looking at James.

"He'll ask Bell for the dance soon."

"You sure know him really well."

"We're friends for over a decade."

"Really envy you guys sometimes, so closely bonded."

"You and Stef and Bell too."

"We are. But you guys are just different."

"I supposed so." James said, sounding uninterested in the topic.

"Am I boring you with all those stuffs??" Lily said frowning.

"No, you're not."

"Your tone of voice doesn't match with what you say."

"I mean what I say."

"Whatever." Lily said. "Since you're so bored with me already, I think you better get another dance partner."

"I'm not bored of you. Why don't you believe??"

"Your tone of voice doesn't tell me so."

"If you don't believe then so be it."

"Why are you throwing your temper at me for no apparent reason??"

"I didn't. You're the one throwing your temper at me."

"Ok. Fine. It's my fault." Lily stormed off the dance floor. James gave a shrug and left at the opposite direction.

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_What did he think he was?? Throwing temper at me for no reason. Male chauvinist pig!!_ Lily thought angrily as she stormed off to the corner of the common room.

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_Throwing her temper at me. What the hell is she doing?? I was being so nice to her and this is how she treats me._ James thought angrily. In the midst of the crowd he could see Lily sitting alone across the common room. _Spoil my evening. To think I actually took her to Hogsmeade to get her mind off things. Ungrateful fella._

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_That idiotic guy. Surrounded by girls again._ Lily looked at James across the room. A group of second year girls walked up and took a seat beside him. _Flirty idiot. Mean guy. Insensitive jerk. Rude idiot. Stuck up pig. Arrogant sissy. Idiot. Idiot._ Lily could feel her anger boiling inside her. _Why should I let him bother me and ruin my night??_

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"No thanks, I would prefer to sit here alone for awhile." James said uninterestedly to the girls surrounding him. His eyes were elsewhere on a particular redhead.

"Let go for a dance." A second year persisted.

"No thanks." James said, not bothering whether he sounded rude.

"Fine. Whatever." The group of second years left him alone once again and he was thankful for that moment of peace.

_Why is she talking to Daniel and Samuel so happily?? _James thought to himself. Daniel and Samuel had approached Lily across the room and the three of them started talking. Lily seemed to be laughing at their jokes.

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"May I've a dance with you??" A third-year asked Arabella.

"Sure." Arabella said in amusement. She was surprised that a guy three years her junior would approach her for a dance.

"Not again." Sirius mumbled in his breath and left Arabella and the third-year dancing to Can't Help Falling In Love. He left the dance floor giving the dancing duo another look.

"Hey Padfoot."

"Not having a good time??" Sirius asked James, noticing his glum expression.

"You don't look too happy too."

"Bell is dancing with too many different people."

"Those greedy girls certainly do enjoy all those attention."

"You're referring to Lily??"

"Who else??"

"She's not dancing with anyone."

"She had been talking to Daniel and Samuel for more than five minutes."

"Someone is jealous."

"I'm not."

"Prongs, I advise you to deflate your ego a little when it come to girls."

"She pissed me off."

"What did she do??"

"Don't feel like talking about it."

"Then you go apologize."

"Why should I?? It's not even my fault."

"Girls don't like to apologize. It's only a word."

"It's against my principle."

"Your pride you mean."

"It's her fault."

"Don't be stubborn."

"No way."

"I better get back to Bell. Don't want her to dance with other guys for too long." Sirius left James alone at his corner and headed back towards the dance floor.

_Still talking so happily with those guys. Bitchy. _The sight of a happy Lily with other guys made him felt slightly jealous.

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_What on earth is that idiotic James doing?? Look until like that. _Lily turned and used her back to face James instead. _I could still feel his stare. Argh. Spoil my evening._

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"Is there something going on between Lily and James or am I being oversensitive??" Stefanie asked as she danced gracefully with Remus along with the music.

"Hmm.. Looks like there's something on between them." Remus agreed, looking from James to Lily and back to James again.

"Should we do something??" Stefanie suggested, looking from a happily chatting Lily to a pretended happy-looking James.

"Leave them alone first." Remus said, turning back to look at Stefanie. "They're always like that. The bickering factor seems to have transferred over to them lately."

"It's not that. James is getting more and more chauvinist lately. Not to mention that his fans are boosting his ego greatly."

"Can't blame him, vice-captain for Gryffindor quidditch team, potential captain next year." Remus commented. "Though many times his prefect badge was handed to me, he has the highest chance to be the Headboy next year, due to his talent and brains."

"How can you be sure?? He's great and with brains and brawn and stuffs. But still, he's the Ringleader of your little group. Chaos will fall upon Hogwarts if he ever become Headboy."

"You can be sure Lily can control him when they become Heads together."

"Lily is going to be Headgirl??"

"I'm pretty sure of that."

"How you – how could I forget?? You travel to the future." Stefanie said with a sudden look of understanding.

"How could you forget??"

"I nearly forgot that I had extra powers as well. I felt so normal for so long."

"That's because Dumbledore never stress us on that."

"Let's not have such serious discussion today." Stefanie changed the topic since there were too many people surrounding them on the dance floor. It would not be safe even though they were whispering.

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"Wanna dance??" Samuel asked Lily. She took a look over at James and saw him deep in conversation with some fifth-years.

"Sure." She smiled politely and took Samuel's hand and headed towards the dance floor together.  
  


"Are you and James together??" Samuel asked as the twosome danced along the slightly fast paced song I Lay My Love On You.

"Huh??" Lily gave a quizzical look.

"Are you and James together??" Samuel repeated louder and leaned closer to Lily.

"Of course not. We're just friends." Lily defended herself with her hands forward.

"You two looked like more than friends."

"You must be kidding. The few of us are all good friends."

"Alright, whatever you said."

"Yeah. Then what about you and Michelle??"

"What's with us??"

"C'mon, who don't know you two are going everywhere together."

"Don't change the topic."

"We're still along the line of couple topic."

"I can't hear you."

"Yeah right."

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"I'm going out for awhile." James said suddenly. The group of giggling fifth years was annoying him.

"Let's go together." One of them suggested.

"I want to be alone."

"But-" James could not be bothered with them and left the common room. Along the way he noticed Lily and Samuel at the dance floor looking genuinely happy.

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"I'm gonna dance with Arabella next." Lily told Samuel as the song was nearing the end.

"Sure." Samuel shrugged. The two continued dancing together until the song ended.

""Thanks." Lily headed towards the corner of the dance floor where Sirius and Arabella were dancing very close together. "May I??" Lily asked in a joking manner and held out her hand for Arabella.

"Sure." Arabella smiled and gave Sirius the apologetic look.

"Lily!! I can barely have a proper dance with Arabella when the whole Gryffindor came to ask her for a dance."

"At least you two shared the first dance." Lily laughed. "Now, can I have a dance with my best friend??"

"I would like to say no." Sirius joked.

"I rather dance with you." Arabella laughed and took Lily's hand. Sirius gave a pretended dejected looking face and walked away. Within five steps away, some first years approached Sirius, seemed to be asking him for a dance. Afterall who could resist the most-good looking guy in Gryffindor.

"I'm gonna miss you." Lily said sincerely.

"Me too." Arabella said. "We'll meet again soon enough."

"I know. But still."

"Alright, let not talk about this." Arabella changed the topic. "Where's James?? I thought I saw you two dancing together earlier on??"  
  


"We did. He pissed me off."

"What did he do this time??"

"He was being so arrogant and stuck-up and egoistic and bored and flirty and-"

"Alright, alright, so where's he now??"

"No idea." Lily looked around the common room. She noticed the girls who were chatting with James earlier on were now alone with some other fellow Gryffindors.

"He probably went out to hide from the girls."  
  


"He love every minute of it. Why would he??"

"How do you know he love being surrounded by girls??"

"Sirius definitely loves that attention." Lily turned to see Sirius talking and a small congregation were gathered in front of him giving him their foremost attention.

"He's an attention seeker."

"James too."

"You're jealous."

"I'm not."

"Don't try to hide from me."

"I'm really not jealous of other girls or anything."

"Well, maybe he is jealous of the other guys."

"Oh please, you know who is the more popular one around."

"Well, wait and see."

"I'll prove you wrong."

"You'll show me that I'm right all along." Lily frowned slightly at Arabella's cheeky smile.


	73. Private Emotions

**Chapter 72: Private Emotions**

"You better go find James and talk to him." Arabella insisted.

"Why should I?? He pissed me off first." Lily defended.

"But afterall he's your friend."

"So??"

"So you should go find him and ask for an explanation??"

"Demand for explanation, you mean??"

"I rather you ask than demand."

"There's no need to be polite with big-ego guys."

"He's a little egoistic."

"A little?! A far more than that, I think."

"That's what you think."

"Don't tell me you don't agree with me."

"I don't. That guy has the biggest ego in the world."

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_Who did she think she is?? The most gorgeous girl in Gryffindor?? Ha.. Like real. _James gave a soft sarcastic laugh at himself. _She is pretty in my eyes though. _He shook his head a little and walked along the corridors aimlessly. The main reason why he was out was to avoid the crowd of girls. _Where can I go to get some time for myself?? I can walk in Hogwarts with my eyes closed and I still know where I would end up. _He had the mental map of Hogwarts in his mind, and being a prefect, he could walk around the school at night legally. To start with, he always wondered the school grounds with the rest of the Marauders illegally, so it did not make much of a difference. _Ha.. The kitchens. My fave spot. _He tickled the pear on the portrait and went into the kitchen.

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"Go find James??" Lily muttered to herself. "No way." She went out of the Gryffindor common room. Looking around, there was no sign of James except for a few prefects who were patrolling the corridors. "I rather go get some food for myself." With that thought, she headed towards the direction where the portrait of the food bowl was.

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"Thanks for your kind hospitality once again." James thanked the house-elves once again.

"You're very much welcome, Mr. James." One of the house-elves replied.

"We hope to see you soon." Another called out.

"You bet I frequent the kitchens more than the classrooms." James commented. Several of the house-elves laughed at his little joke. "Gotta go."

"Bye, sir." The house-elves greeted cheerfully.

"Bye guys." James left the kitchens. After he checked that the coast was clear, he turned to his right. There was another place where he thought that would be better than the Gryffindor tower.

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"Hi guys." Lily smiled the house-elves warmly.

"Hello, Miss Lily." One of the house-elves replied. "What would you like to eat today??"

"Give me my fave Creamy Chicken Linguine." Lily said after some thought.

"Be right back." Several house-elves turned into the kitchen.

"Miss Lily, Mr. James left a few minutes ago, did you met him??" Another house-elf asked.

"No." _Hmm.. James was here. That greedy fella._

"Here's your food, Miss Lily." A house-elf brought a steaming hot plate of Lily's fave pasta.

"Thank you very much." Lily said and helped herself while her mind was deep in thoughts. _James._

"You don't like it??" A house-elf spoke up. Lily was eating her food unusually slow.

"No, of course not. I love them. Just thinking about some stuffs." Lily defended and ate slightly faster.

"About Mr. James??" Another house-elf asked.

"No, not him." Lily felt herself blushing slightly and quickly turned her concentration to the plate of food in front of her.

"He went to the Room of Requirement." Scooby whispered to Lily's ear.

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_What is that girl doing now?? _James thought as he lain comfortably on the couch that appeared in the Room of Requirement. _Bet she's busy flirting around. _James thought with a tinge of jealousy. Moving a little to adjust himself to a more comfortable position, his eyes remained staring at nothing in particular.

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_Room of Requirement. Do I really want to go there and see that egoistic jerk?? _Lily walked aimlessly around the castle, her legs carrying her towards the direction of the room where James was said to be. _No. I don't want to see him. _Lily thought with determination. She walked passed the place where the door into the Room was situated. Giving the empty space a look, she left with determination.

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"Do you think Lily and James are together at this moment??" Arabella asked Sirius. Once again, they managed to get into a dance together again. _Sirius and I are going to have such a short-lived happiness together._

"Don't think so. I know James."

"But I believe Lily is out there with him."

"I doubt that. James is probably hiding somewhere like the Room of Requirement or something."

"Let's have a bet."

"Sure, about what."

"The two of them will come back together."

"I bet they won't."

"Deal."

"What's the forfeit??"

"One galleon."

"Money isn't everything."

"Then what you want."

"A kiss from you."

"No way."

"Then I'm going to use some force." Sirius leaned forward and kissed Arabella on her lips once again which she caught it in surprise. _Short-lived romance, but sweet and memorable._

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"Do you think we'll be together for long??" Stefanie asked Remus softly.

"How long we're together isn't important. I know you'll live in my heart forever." Remus answered sincerely.

"Remus!!" Stefanie leaned onto Remus' muscular chest and hugged him.

"Stef, what happened??" Remus asked worriedly, hugging Stefanie tightly, giving her a sense of security.

"Lils and James, Bell and Sirius, they looked so perfect together, but it so short-lived."

"That's our fate, I guess. What matters most is that now we have each other and even in the future, we'll live in each other heart, with our shared memories together."

"Oh.. Remus."

"Don't worry about tomorrow." Remus assured. "We must enjoy our life everyday. And trust me, I'll love no one beside you."

"Thank you."

"You're welcome."

"Why do you sound so formal??"

"Then what do you want me to say??"

"Say something to make me happy."

"Stef, I love you."

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"How long have I been lying here??" James asked himself. "About an hour??" _Wow!! I'm going insane, talking and reply to myself. _He got up from the couch and stretched himself a little. _Better head back to the party. All her fault spoilt my night._ James thought to himself and left the Room. After confirming the coast along the corridor was cleared, he turned left and walked briefly back to the common room.

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"Maybe I should turn back to check if he's around." Lily talked to herself. After much hesitation, she finally decided to turn back to the Room of Requirement. "If that jerk is there, we talk. If not, then we're not fated to meet." She started walking at a slightly faster pace towards the Room of Requirement. Thinking of James, she walked along the supposedly door into the Room three times to-and-fro.

The door appeared and Lily walked in with anticipation. _Looks like no one is inside. _The room was empty except for a comfortable looking red couch in the middle and some moving pictures of James. _Maybe I shouldn't put James into my thought while I was thinking of entering the room. _With about ten or more pictures of James in various outfits and pose looking at her, she felt strange. _Ok, he's not here. _Without walking more than five steps into the Room, she turned to leave. Afterall the reason for going into this Room was to find the real James and not having more than ten of James' portraits looking at her. Ogling would be a better word in this case.

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"Prongsie, where on earth did you go??" Sirius exclaimed dramatically the moment he entered the Gryffindor common room. It looked like Sirius was expecting him to enter any moment.

"Just went out for a walk. Did you go mad while dancing with Bell??" James looked at Sirius with a puzzled expression.

"He's just feeling insecure without your graceful presence." Arabella said in a strange tone of voice.

"You sounded like you lost a bet or something." James teased Arabella a little.

"Kinda, anyway where's Lily??"

"Don't know. Didn't see her at all."

"How dense are you?? She went out to find you."

"Not possible."

"Why not??"

"She doesn't even want to talk to me."

"Who said so??"  
  


"She said so."  
  


"And you believed??"

"Am I supposed to say 'Oh Lils, you don't wanna talk to me?? No problem. I will do all the talking.'??"

"Not something like that, of course. Something more sensible please."

"That was my most humble statement and you're not satisfied??"

"Now I must really agree with Lils that your ego and been dramatically inflated."

"I'm a person with self confidence."

"Hey, can I say something??" Sirius spoke up suddenly.

"What??" James and Arabella stopped their debate and turned to look at Sirius.

"Lily just came in and she left for the dorm."

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"Am I supposed to say 'Oh Lils, you don't wanna talk to me?? No problem. I will do all the talking.'??" A familiar male voice said from not too far away. Lily turned to see where the source of voice came from.

"Not something like that, of course. Something more sensible please." Arabella replied. She and James were facing one another. She caught sight of Sirius looking at her direction and she gave a wave before turning towards the female dormitory.

"That was my most humble statement and you're not satisfied??" She could hear the egoistic James' comment even at the stairs. _I can't imagine one day I would marry that jerk and have a son. This is pure nightmare._

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_Lily must have heard what I said. _James looked at the retreating silhouette of Lily at the staircase. _Her back view looks good. Nice, firm butt. _He felt like he wanted to run forward to hold Lily in his arms, but he knew he would do no such thing.

"Prongsie, are you back on land??"

"What do you want??"

"Just checking how many meters are you above ground level."

"What are you talking about??"  
  


"You're looking at Lily until you floated."

"Haha. Very funny." James gave Sirius a sarcastic laugh and headed towards his dormitory. _Peace. I need some peace._

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_Do I like James?? _Lily laid in the bed, thoughts flowing in her mind.

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_I don't like Lily, right?? _James thought, looking at the ceiling, which had the picture of Lily looking down at him. Sirius and Remus had so kindly painted it for him since they were painting Arabella and Stefanie several weeks ago. _She better not come in and see this. _Sirius and Remus had somehow used some charm to make sure Lily's picture cannot be removed by any form of magic known to him. It was like a muggle picture because it was in still form. _She looks ugly. All the pimples and stuffs. Look at her hair. Yucks. _He thought to himself, trying to find something not nice about Lily.

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_James is a jerk. He's an egomaniac. He's lousy. He's a loser. He's ugly. He's disgusting. _Lily was thinking all the possible bad things about James' mentally until she drifted off to sleep unknowingly.


	74. Miss You Always

**Chapter 73: Miss You Always**

"How about this denim skirt??" Arabella suggested, pulling out a mini denim skirt in the pile of clothes in the middle of the sixth-year girls' dormitory.

"Looks good." Lily agreed. "That skirt is mine, right??"

"You said it look good because it's _yours_." Samantha teased good-naturedly.

"I really forgot all about the skirt until now that you mention it." Lily defended herself.

"That's really funny. You used to wear it so often in the past." Joey added.

"That was the past. It's such a small piece of clothing."

"That's why you call this _mini­-skirt_, my dear." Stefanie laughed.

"Okok, anyway this skirt is a good idea." Lily tried to divert the topic off.

"I don't wear mini-skirts." Joey admitted. "I don't think my legs look nice."

"Jo, don't worry, I think you look gorgeous in mini-skirts." Lily said truthfully.

"It seems like a pretty good idea." Stefanie added. "Besides it is not entire a mini skirt, more like culottes." Samantha held the mini-skirt up showing the shorts beneath the exterior skirt cutting.

"Let's settle for this then." Arabella suggested and the girls agreed.

"Majority wins." Joey admitted defeat in a joking manner.

"Let's duplicate the skirt to fit us." Stefanie added enthusiastically, preparing the duplication and altering charm and fetching her wand from her bedside table.

"What about the top??" Lily dug around the heap of clothing in front of her. The five girls had emptied their trunk magically and all their clothes were heaped in the center of their dormitory.

"This one??" Samantha pulled out a white spaghetti strapped top from the bottom.

"Spaghetti top and mini skirt. Isn't it a bit too overly revealing??" Stefanie voiced out from the corner where she was duplicating the denim mini skirts.

"How about a tee shirt??" Joey asked, holding a midriff baring short sleeve white top.

"Too casual looking." Samantha remarked.

"What about something like a turtleneck??" Lily pulled out a long sleeve white turtleneck.

"This turtleneck look better with a leather mini skirt." Arabella commented.

"So am I going to change it to black leather mini or what??" Stefanie stopped the duplication charm and turned over to check out the top the others were deciding upon.

"Who's with this turtle neck and leather skirt??" Joey asked.

"Me." Lily agreed instantly.

"Me too." Arabella added.

"Me three." Stefanie agreed. "Looks like I gotta change the texture. Who know the texture-changing charm??"

"It is somewhere in our charm book." Samantha accioed her book over, and flipped through to search for the charm.

"So we settle for white turtleneck and black leather skirt??" Lily asked the four other girls.

"Yes." Joey answered and then magicked the remaining clothes back to their respective trunks.

"I help you with the charm." Lily volunteered and took her own copy of the textbook and searched for the charm they needed.

"Let's duplicate the tops first." Joey fetched her wand and started duplicating the white turtleneck with Stefanie.

_This is one thing I'm going to miss doing so much._ Arabella thought as she looked around her roommates who were busy doing the magic, which she could not perform anymore. _I'll miss them so much. _She studied her friends closely as she sat at the edge of her bed. _I'll live with no regrets knowing friends like them._ They had told Samantha and Joey about Arabella's loss of powers but skipped some of the details.

"Bell."

_Celeste. An old friend._ Arabella thought about her best friend in the childhood times before she came to Hogwarts.

"Arabella??"

_Wonder how is she doing?? Maybe I can attend a muggle school with her. That is, if I still get to meet her._

"ARABELLA FIGG??"

"Huh?? What??" Arabella got out from the trance she was in.

"Finally you're back." Lily teased.

"What were you thinking of??" Stefanie asked.

"Nothing in particular. Just remembered a childhood friend."

"We decide on these matching leather boots."

"Looks good." Arabella agreed. The pair of knee-high heeled leather boots, which belonged to Joey, seemed to match their outfit pretty well.

"Let's get change. It's nearly five." Joey pointed out. The girls had stayed up the whole night to do girls' stuffs. They chatted for three hours and then began on their makeover.

"Jo, you can be sure most of the population will be up at around nine." Samantha pointed out.

"We can even take a nap in the meanwhile." Lily suggested.

"NO!!" The four other girls chorused. Everyone knew it was difficult to drag Lily out of bed especially in the morning.

"Your reaction doesn't have to be so big." Lily commented.

"You better not sleep." Samantha threatened in a joking manner.

"I'll try not to. I think I might have master the art of sleeping standing up."

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"I'm so against pranks on Sunday mornings." James complained as the Marauders gathered their props and about to head towards the Slytherin tower.

"It's one of the best time as most of the student won't be up so early." Remus commented as he wiped his face with his towel.

"Prongs, you better do some washing up." Sirius shoved James rather violently into their shared bathroom.

"I know how to walk." James commented sleepily and started splashing his face with water. "This is not like the biggest prank in the century or anything."

"It's nothing great but it's our main form of entertainment." Peter voiced out.

"It's our _only_ form of entertainment." Sirius pointed out.

"Not really, I still have Stef." Remus pointed at the ceiling above his bed whereby a muggle painting of Stefanie was looking down at him.

"And James have Lily, what about us??" Sirius commented and put his arm around Peter.

"I do have some girlfriends here and there." Peter defended.

"I know. But that two traitors already have a _wife-to-be_." Sirius exclaimed dramatically.

"Mind you, it's six in the morning. Can you say something more sensible??" Remus shook his head and fell back onto his bed.

"I'm merely stating the facts." Sirius defended. "Prongsie!! Are you done??"

"My instinct tell me that he's fast asleep on the toilet bowl again." Remus laughed and headed over to their bathroom.

"I'm with you for that." Sirius followed.

"Aha, gotcha. I'm all ready to go." James said in an unusual bright tone and walked out of the bathroom looking distinctively refreshed.

"Huh??" The three Marauders looked at James after the five-minute transformation in the bathroom.

"Wormtail, did you cast some spell on him without us knowing??" Remus said teasingly.

"I didn't do anything."

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"Threotically, our Snivellus and Malfoy should be really _sweet_ later." Sirius announced in a professional tone.

"Nothing too much. Just some of those mushy songs that's all." James said nonchalantly and went back into his bed, drifting of to dreamland once again.

"At least we made sure they sing it during breakfast for Bell." Sirius argued.

"Okok, everything is for your Arabella. I'm going to sleep." Remus said and went back to his bed.

"Why won't anyone listen to me talk??" Sirius exclaimed dramatically.

"Wormtail, I suggest you better get some sleep now." Remus called out from his bed.

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"Looking good!!" Lily commented. The five girls were now standing in front of the full-length mirror, taking turns to admire themselves in front.

"What gorgeous beauties you all are." The mirror complimented.

"Thanks." The five girls chorused. The five of them, once again, looked similar but yet different in a sense.

"Let's hit the Great Hall." Samantha said enthusiastically.

"We're still early. We can leave in ten more minutes where most of the population are thee first."

"Then what can we do in the meanwhile??"

"Hmm.."

"Hang out in the common room??"

"Slowly make our way to the Great Hall??"

"Let's just make our way there, who knows there might just be delays along the way??" Stefanie said casually.

"Are you suggesting something we don't know??"

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"I used to call you my girl." Lucius Malfoy jumped onto the Slytherin table and started singing. Vaness Crabbe and Gordan Goyle started humming the melody Miss You Like Crazy loudly. The two, together with Lucius and Severus, all jumped onto the table suddenly, much to the fellow Slytherins surprise.

"I used to call you my friend." Severus sang in an unusual gentle voice.

"I used to call you the love." Lucius continued. Vaness and Gordan were still humming happily. The four of them were oblivious to the stares given by their fellow schoolmates.

"The love that I never had."

"When I think of you."

"I don't know what to do."

"When will I see you again??"

"Don't you think they sang well??" James asked his fellow Marauders.

"Since they start singing, that means the girls are within the proximity." Remus reminded them.

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"I miss you like crazy, even more than words can say. I miss you like crazy, every minute of every day. Bell, I'm so down when your love is not around. I miss you, miss you, miss you, I miss you like crazy." Lucius and Severus sang in such perfect harmony that no one thought was possible. They were singing as though they were professional singers with so much passion in their expression and voice.

"What are those Slytherins doing??" Joey asked in surprised.

"You're all that I want." Lucius continued to sing with a strange form of deep passion.

"They look like they're singing." Lily gave the Slytherins a look and ignored them.

"You're all that I need." Severus continued harmoniously after Lucius.

"They sound pretty good actually." Samantha remarked.

"Can't you see how I feel??" Lucius sang after Severus.

"Their voices are _definitely_ modified." Stefanie laughed.

"Can't you see that my pain is so real??"

"I thought I heard your name inside the lyrics." Samantha pointed out.

"When I think of you."

"I thought I heard that. At least I'm not the only one." Arabella commented with a laugh and the five girls moved towards the Gryffindor table.

"I don't know what to do."

"Looks like no one is going to notice us since the singing Slytherins are definitely _captivating_." Lily laughed, along with the rest of the population because the scene was pretty comical.

"When will I see you again??"

"Let's get down to breakfast." Stefanie tried to stifle her laughter a little. The Slytherin foursome continued singing their song all the way, gaining the total concentration of both the student and teacher population in that morning.

"I thought I heard your name again." Stefanie laughed as she helped herself with the scrambled eggs.

"It's so uncomfortable wearing mini-skirts." Lily complained. "Must really sit in such lady-like manner."

"Lils, you're a _lady_ so you gotta learn to be more lady-like." Samantha reminded Lily good-naturedly.

"Yes, mum." Lily sat upright immediately; legs crossed, and started eating in a very feminine manner.

The Slytherins' voices can be heard from the background since Gryffindor and Slytherin tables were at both ends of the Great Hall.

"You can stop that now. It's so unnatural." Arabella laughed.

The four Slytherins finished their first debut and jumped off the table in a stylish manner and walked towards the Gryffindor table confidently. All eyes were on the foursome except for five particular Gryffindors who were too engrossed in their own private conversation.

"It's early in the morning." Lucius started. Vaness and Gordan were humming another song, which sounded like Wonderful Tonight.

"She's wondering what clothes to wear." Severus continued. It was indeed strange that Lucius and Severus could sound so good singing together.

"She puts on her make up." The four Slytherins were now surrounding Arabella, singing their song to her.

"And brushes her long brown hair."

"What's going on??" Arabella asked the Slytherins. Instead of responding, they sang even more fervently to her.

"Do I look alright??" Lucius sang to Arabella and then turned to face Severus.

"And I say yes, you look wonderful today." Severus replied to Lucius and then turned to face Arabella.

Her four friends were now too busy laughing at the scene whereby four Slytherins were singing to a Gryffindor to be helping her to solve what was going on. Obviously the rest of the hall was laughing at them as well, because it was indeed a hilarious scene at the Great Hall on a weekend morning.

"We go for breakfast." Lucius continued to sing along with the humming from Vaness and Gordan.

"And everyone turns to see."

"This beautiful lady."

"That sat in front of me."

"And then she asks me." Lucius looked at Arabella with such intense passion that gave her shivers to her spine.

"Do you feel alright??" Severus sang out and looked into Arabella's midnight blue eyes.

"And I say yes, I feel wonderful today." Lucius replied to Severus and the two guys held their hands together and reached out to hold Arabella's hands with their other free hand. Arabella obviously rejected the offer and the two guys held each other hand instead.

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"Malfoy and Snivellus look so gay holding hands." James laughed so hard that his hands were slamming the table.

"I never knew the two are so _in love_ with each other." Sirius was holding his stomach because he was laughing so hard that gave him stitch. The rest of the Great Hall was obvious in such laughing conditions that they could not even start eating their breakfast.

"Thankfully we modify their voice to make them sound so enchanting." Peter commented, pausing his laughter just to say something.

"Definitely, otherwise the rest would be throwing food at them to make them stop." Remus was laughing so hard that he was holding onto the bench for support.

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After three songs, the laughter died down and the Slytherins did not appeared to be as hilarious as they were in the beginning. Their voices continued to loom the entire Great Hall, supplying the inhabitants of the Great Hall with pleasant music to start their day with. Needless to say, the Slytherins had continued to sing in front of Arabella with all the love songs, one after another.

"Oceans apart day after day."

"Miss Figg, it's about time." Professor McGonagall who appeared to be trying very hard to keep a straight face, came over to the five girls as they tried to eat their breakfast.

"And I slowly go insane."

"So soon." Arabella commented.

"I hear your voice now and then."

"That's right." She replied with a tinge of sadness.

"But it doesn't stop the pain."

"Alright then." Arabella got up from her seat and followed Professor McGonagall. Her four friends-cum-roommates as well as the four singing Slytherins followed as well.

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"They're leaving." Remus told the Marauders.

"If I see you next to never."

"Let's go then." Sirius instructed and the rest of the Marauders followed up with the girls.

"How can I say forever??"

"It's pretty cool with a personal band singing for you." James told the group as they followed behind Professor McGonagall, the five girls, and the four singing Slytherins.

"Wherever you go, whatever you do. I will be right here waiting for you. Whatever it takes, or how my heart breaks, I will be right here waiting for you."

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"I can't imagine." Severus sang. The four of them were singing what it felt like their twentieth song, Drowning.

"I miss you so much!!" Arabella hugged Lily tightly. She was hugging her five roommates one after another. Their eyes were rather teary since the five girls had grown very close after six years of friendship.

"Life without your presence."

"And even forever."

"Don't seem like long enough."

"Thank you Professor." Arabella turned to give Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall a quick and grateful hug.

"Coz everytime I breathe I take you in."

"Do take care of yourself." Professor McGonagall replied.

"And my heart beats again."

"We'll meet again soon enough." Dumbledore said with a wink.

"Bell, I can't help it."

"Thanks guys for everything." Arabella told the Marauders and gave each of them a quick hug, except for Sirius, whom was the longest.

"You keep me drowning in your presence."

"I'll miss you." Sirius whispered to Arabella.

"And everytime I try to rise above."

"I know you guys instigated the four of them." Arabella said with a smile and shot the four Slytherins a look. "And thanks for the party, and everything else."

"I'm swept away by you."

"Don't mention it. It's our pleasure." James replied with a chuckle.

"Bell, I can't help it."

"Miss Figg, it's time to go." Professor McGonagall repeated once again. Arabella turned and followed her up the horseless carriage.

"You keep me drowning in your presence." It was like their finale line before the horseless carriage took Arabella and Professor McGonagall away from Hogwarts.


	75. Life Without Arabella

**Chapter 74: Life Without Arabella**

"It's so strange with Bell's presence." Lily commented. It had been a week since Arabella left Hogwarts and returned to the orphanage she came from.

"We all miss her." Stefanie looked up from her work. The five girls were spending their Monday in their room, doing their homework. It was one of the rare times when all the four girls were doing their homework together.

"Speak of the devil." Samantha commented and went over to the window where Arabella's tawny owl, Crookshanks stood.

"A letter from Bell." Joey said excitedly. The four girls stopped what they were doing and went forward.

_Dearest Lils, Stef, Sam and Jo,_

_          I miss you gals so much!! Still trying to adapt to the old muggle life. But that shouldn't be much of a problem actually. Anyway it had been a week and I thought I should write you all a note or something. That means I was thinking of you. Haha.. So do you all miss me too?? Let's hope that we can meet up during the summer break or something. Just a quick word, do not send me via any of your owls all right?? I do not want chaos over here. Some of the kids here pretty afraid of 'abnormalities'. Just reply with Crookshanks, he knows when to come to me. Thanks. Can't wait to see you all._

_Love,_

_Bell_

"Let's write her a note." Lily suggested. The four girls sat down together and started writing while Crookshanks waited impatiently by the windowsill.

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_Dearest my dearie Bell, (Lils wrote that)_

_          We miss you so much!! Really can't wait to see you. We should really have a gathering in our summer break. It's like more than half a year away. We are thinking of you all the time. And the four of us were just thinking about you when dear old Crookshanks brought us a letter from you. We were so overwhelmed to see him._

_          Lils wrote that, as you should have noticed. Her handwriting is too big and we are afraid she might use up the entire parchment before we even get the chance to write anything on it. I guess she had already said what I want to tell you, but in a more dramatic way. –Stef_

_          Luckily my handwriting is small enough to take just a bit of space in this parchment. You know how huge Lils and Sam's handwriting are. Anyway do take good care of yourself. Hope to hear from you soon. That's about all I wanna add on. ~Joey_

_          It's so unfair they made me the last to write, just because of handwriting size. So biased!! And besides they had already said what I wanna say and that left me with nothing else to write. Well, the only thing I can say is that I'm the one who took the parchment away from Lils and Stef took it from me. ~Saman_

_Love,_

_Sam, Jo, Stef and Lils_

_P.S: I haven't say enough!! There are still a lot of things I wanna tell you and just once parchment is not enough!! –Lils-_

_Lots of Love and Hugs and Kisses,_

_Sammie, Jojo, Steffi and Lilies_

Arabella laughed as she read and re-read the letter from her ex-dorm-mates again. _We'll meet again. McGonagall had told me to join the Order of the Phoenix and I can't tell you that yet._

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"Is there anything we can do??" Sirius asked lazily. The four guys were hanging out in their dormitory because they had nowhere else to go.

"For one, we can do some studying." Remus pointed out.

"For two, we can do homework." Peter suggested.

"For three, we can prank the Slytherins." James said.

"For the first time, we had finished them all." Sirius replied.

"For once, you're totally right." Remus agreed. They had completed all their homework and assignments. They even had time to prank the Slytherins by planting some colour bombs at their entrance. It was nothing new actually but because they had yet come up with any better pranks, so they had no choice but to reuse their old pranks.

"What could the girls we doing on this cool Wednesday night??" Sirius asked casually.

"Are you suggesting what could Bell be doing??" James said teasingly.

"I'm just trying to make conversation."

"Go and find a girl if you're too bored." The three guys laughed at James comment.

"You all can gloat because you three are _attached_!!" Sirius said defensively.

"Excuse me, I'm still the most eligible bachelor in Hogwarts." James argued.

"You're ranked second. I'm the first."

"Since when??"  
  


"Since always."

"Whatever. Can't be bothered to argue with you."

"That's so un-Jamesie-like." Remus raised his brows and shot James a look.

"Don't call me Jamesie."

"Why don't you write a note to Bell??" Peter suggested.

"She's with the muggles. It won't be very normal to start having owls visiting her now and then." Sirius said sensibly.

"Padfoot!!" James exclaimed dramatically.

"What??" Sirius looked at James quizzically.

"That's the most sensible thing you ever said in sixteen years!!" James said with a pretended shocked expression.

"Same sentiments exactly." Remus agreed.

"Hey!!"

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"Why are you all up so early??" Lily dragged herself upright on her bed. Her three roommates were all up and about busying preparing to go out. "It's Saturday morning."

"I'm going Hogsmeade with Remus today." Stefanie replied as she brushed her hair in front of the tabletop mirror.

"I've got a date with Phillip." Samantha said dreamily and continued to try different tops to match her favorite pants.

"Going Hogsmeade with Jack." Joey tried assembling an outfit for her in front of the full-length mirror.

"I'm going to stay in and sleep all day then." Lily said and fell backwards onto the bed.

"Ask James out!!" Stefanie suggested cheekily.

"That's right, ask him out, then you won't be so lonely here." Samantha added.

"Thanks but I'm happy spending my time here alone." Lily said and covered herself with her comforters.

"Don't say we didn't suggest to you." Samantha said after another ten minutes of preparation, giving Stefanie and Joey a wink. "I'm going out now."

"Bye." The two awakened girls replied, while Lily remained silent in her bed, trying to sleep again.

"See ya." Joey called out to Stefanie and Lily after five minutes Samantha left.

"Lils, see ya tonight." Stefanie said and left the dormitory not long after Joey.

_Sigh. I'm alone here once again. Think I better get some beauty rest._ Lily removed the comforters from her head and closed her eyes, drifting into a sleeping mood.

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"I can't believe you think of that idea." Remus said exasperatedly.

"It's a good idea." Sirius pleaded dramatically. "It's the only way I can get to see Bell."

"Just fulfill his wishes." James laughed.

"I'm off to meet my girlfriend." Peter said.

"Bye."

"Enjoy your day."

"So Moony, please take me to Bell."

"It's risky. And I don't know where it is."

"Don't worry. It's somewhere along Privet Crescent." Sirius assured.

"Thanks a lot, but I have absolutely no clue where on earth Privet Crescent is."

"Give it a try, Moony. Just to please the dear old puppy." James laughed and lazed in his bed, half asleep.

"I take you back to King Cross and you find your way out from there." Remus said finally.

"Moony, I trust your teleporting skills. So just take me to the orphanage." Sirius tried to convince Remus.

"Okok, I give it a try." Remus said, giving in finally. "Tell Stef what happened when she arrive."

"No worries, I will tell her how effeminate our dear old love struck Padfoot is." James teased and earned a pillow from Sirius. With a pop, the duo disappeared from their dormitory. Although Hogwarts was protected with the enchantments of not able to apparate, Remus' power somehow out beaten it and they were able to teleport out of Hogwarts and even back and forward time at ease.

_Ahh, what a peaceful Saturday today is going to be. Maybe I can get some lost sleep._ James thought and lain back on his bed, drifting to sleep.

"James, where's Remus??" A familiar female voice called out and he could feel someone shaking him.

"Huh??" James opened his eyes and looked at the source of voice.

"Any idea where's Remus??"

"He took Sirius to find Bell."

"What??"

"He teleport Sirius to find Bell."

"Oooh."

"Can I get back to sleep now??"

"You and Lils are really two of a kind, always sleeping."

"Sleep is important."

"But too much is no good."

"I'm deprived of sleep." James said and covered himself with his comforters to avoid any more queries from Stefanie.

_Looks like I gotta entertain myself around for awhile. _Stefanie thought and lain onto Remus' bed, looking up at the ceiling. _I must be dreaming, I thought I saw my picture on the ceiling._ She blinked several times and looked up again. _I'm not dreaming, there's really a picture of me in the ceiling._ She sat upright and went to check the ceiling of the guy's beds. _Aha, a picture of Bell for Sirius. _She peeped into James' curtain-drawn bed and looked upwards and saw a picture of Lily looking down at her._ Still deny that you don't like Lily._ Stefanie gave a small chuckle when a pop behind her gave a shock.

"What are you looking at??" Remus whispered into Stefanie's right ear and held her on her waist.

"Let's get going. I've got something to ask you about." Stefanie said with a cheeky grin on her.

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_Guys,_

_          Do you guys have any interesting pranking ideas?? We ran out of it. The last prank we last did was just hanging some guys upside down at the Entrance Hall because they crossed our paths._

_Signed,_

_F4_

James laughed at the note from his Asian friends and left it by the table for the rest to read it. _It should be midnight for them now. Must be in need for a great prank. _James took the Marauder's Map to check the coast. His stomach was growling in hunger for skipping breakfast.

"I solemnly swear that I'm up to no good." James pointed at the old parchment without the need of a wand. The lines crawled on the parchment and dots began to appear at various spots. _Lily is alone in her dormitory. _James noted that the dot labeled Lily was not moving at all. _Maybe she's still asleep._ James chuckled to himself. He fetched his invisibility cloak and left the dormitory. He, for one, did not need a wand with him at all times, unlike the other wizards.

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James held a bagful of food in his hand and brought headed up the girls' dormitory in his invisibility cloak. _Hmm.. Is there a password for the girls or something?? _He thought as he tried to push open the door but to no avail. He took out his map and muttered the password underneath his breath. A speech bubble appeared at the dot labeled James Potter with a speech bubble saying 'Girls rule'.

"Mischief managed." The lines disappeared from the map and then he turned to the door and said the password. _Luckily Stef told Remus and he updated it onto the map._

James crept silently into the girls' dormitory and headed towards Lily's bed. He had been inside the girls' dormitory many times enough to know which bed belonged to whom, and besides there's only one bed with the curtains drawn. _Look so cute when she's asleep. So huggable looking. Ahh.. What am I thinking??_

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_Ahh.. body aching. _Lily tossed and turned around her bed for awhile before opening her eyes a little.

"Hmmmm.." She stretched herself on the bed and rubbed her eyes gently a little to adjust to the sunlight that shone through from the window. _What time is it now??_ She turned to take a look at her pink Baby-G watch on her bedside table. _One p.m. _"No wonder I'm so hungry." She said to no one in particular since no one else was in the dormitory besides her. At least that was what she thought.

After lazing around for what felt like ten minutes, she finally dragged herself out of the bed and headed towards the bathroom, grabbing her bath towel and some clothes along the way.

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_Finally she gets up. I'm about to doze off if she continues to sleep throughout the day. _James fidgeted a little in his invisibility cloak. He had settled himself comfortably at a corner of the girls' dormitory. Afterall, he had come up for some afternoon entertainment. _Ha.. Bathing time. Maybe I can try to peep. _James tiptoed across the room floor and tried to push open the door but it refused to bulge. _Why on earth did she lock the door when no one else is in the dorm with her?? _He moved to the side of the bathroom door, just in case Lily might open the door and trip over him. _If I have Moony's power, I probably will be teleporting myself to every bathroom now and then for some entertainment. Too bad Moony is such a 'decent' man._

From the side of the door, he could hear the faucet being turned on and Lily started to bathe. _How I wish I could be inside to watch her shower. Ooo.. That's a luxury. _James thought to himself dreamily and he was starting to feel horny.

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_Maybe I can do a body scrub today. _Lily got her body scrub and started massaging it onto the body. _It's such a treat to get the whole bathroom to myself for the entire afternoon. _She turned on the faucet again to rinse off all the micro-particles. _Maybe I can do a mask. Nah, it's not like there's a bathtub here or something. _She rinsed off any leftover soap on her body and towel-dry herself.

After wrapping the yellow bath towel around her body, she head towards the basin to brush her teeth. _Hmm.. So many pimples. _Like any other girls, she definitely pampered herself well in the bathroom once in a blue moon. Unknown to her, there was a guy just outside the bathroom, in her dormitory having his imagination running wild.

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_Water on, water off. What could she be doing?? Next time I gotta get inside there to hide. Get to watch girls' bathing and doing whatsoever thing inside is really a great pleasure for my eyes. _James thought as his imagination of Lily bathing flashed through his mind.

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_Done. _Lily dried herself with a wand and then gave a final splash of warm water onto her face.

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CcrrRaaaAcCcckKk!!  
  


The bathroom door opened and Lily appeared looking totally refreshed. _And fully clothed. _To James' disappointment, there was no extra treat for his four eyes. _Hmm.. Maybe she might un-strip now or something. _James thought hopefully as he tried to move silently back to his original location, since there was practically no reason for any girls to be standing next to the door of the dormitory.

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_Where's my moisturizer?? _Lily hunted her wardrobe for her body moisturizer, and then she decided to accio it to her instead.

"Accio moisturizer." The moisturizer in the glass container flew across the dormitory from Samantha's bedside table. _Sam borrowed it again. _Lily smiled at the thought and was not bothered by it. She began to apply it onto her arms and legs and the covered parts of her body.

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_Strip!! Strip!! Strip!! _James was chanting mentally. He was watching intensely at the way Lily was applying the moisturizer over her hands first, and then she proceeded to her legs, pulling up her already short shorts even shorter, showing her panty slightly. _Yellow. Nice colour. _James was grinning idiotically underneath his invisibility cloak. For a moment he had actually forgot that he was supposed to be hiding. Well, his horniness had obviously taken control his brain. _Pull higher!! Higher!! _James was repeating mentally once again.

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"Pull higher!! Higher!!" A soft male voice was chanting from a corner of the room.

Lily arched her brows to detect the source of voice. _That voice sounds so strangely familiar. Someone is definitely in this room, and he, must be a guy, is invisible. _Lily continued to pretend to apply her moisturizer, and acting as if she had not heard anything out of the ordinary. _Who can be invisible and yet know the password this dorm?? The Marauders!! James!! Ok, where is he?? _Lily turned slightly onto her bed and re-applied the moisturizer onto her hands as she tried to hear the voice.

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_Drats!! Don't turn around. _James thought sulkily. He tried to bend forward to get a closer look, totally oblivious to the fact that he was hiding in his invisibility cloak.

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_Aha, now I know where you are. _Lily was smirking inwardly. _Look like you gave yourself away._

James' hands were now visible because of his movement. To Lily, it appeared to be two hands supporting some invisible weight on the floor, moving towards her bed.

She pretended to finish applying and then turned back to her wardrobe to keep her moisturizer. _I'll get him back for doing this._

"My, my, my. I'm so hungry." She said loudly to no one in particular but she knew James had heard it.

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_Someone finally realized that she's hungry. Hmm, I got some sandwiches here. _James suddenly remembered the sandwiches he brought up for Lily. _Oh, I'm supposed to be invisible. _He was trying to find an idea how he could appear without being realized that he had been inside the dormitory.

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BbbbbaaAaaaMMmmm!!

"Wah!!" Lily turned around in shock. Her dormitory door banged opened but no one was there.

"Surprise!!" James said as he pulled off his invisibility cloak revealing himself and a bag of food.

"What a _surprise_!!" Lily arched her brows suspiciously but decided to play along first. "Why are you _here_?? And how did you _know_ our password??"

"Remus told me the password, and of course from my map, I know you're still here. So I purposely went to the kitchens and brought you some sandwiches."

"Awww, isn't that sweet??" Lily said in a dramatic voice and grabbed the bag of food from James' hands. _Might as well play along now. Get back at him next time. Hm.. The food better not be drugged. _"Hey, you eat some too."

"Definitely, I'm hungry as well." James said as he helped himself to a chicken mayo sandwich.

"Looks good." Lily agreed. After making sure James ate more than half the sandwiches, she helped herself with one chicken mayo.

"So, why are you here on this beautiful Saturday afternoon??"


	76. Girls' Revenge

**Chapter 75: Girls' Revenge**

"I never expect James to do something like that!!" Stefanie exclaimed. Lily had told her roommates about the incident with James earlier that afternoon.

"That's just so disgusting." Samantha wrinkled her nose in disgust.

"How could he?? He seemed so nice and everything." Joey could not figure out why James would do such a thing.

"The thought of it makes me puke." Lily said angrily. _I must have my revenge._

"So what's your idea of revenge??" Stefanie asked Lily.

"Something _memorable_." Lily said with a wicked glint in her emerald green eyes.

"Like what??" Joey enquired.

"Like.." Lily racked her brains for some pranking ideas. "Like something got to do with their underwear??"

"LILY!!" The three girls shouted at the same time.

"That's so yucky!!" Joey added.

"I know." Lily said. "But it will be a _sweet _revenge." She was mentally trying to get a prank in mind.

"_Sweet_?!?" Stefanie shook her head. "Don't get Remus _too_ involved in that."

"I kinda have an idea in mind. But it would involve the four himbos."

"Since when were they categorized under himbos??"

"I just don't feel like calling them Marauders."

"You can call them tortoise or cockroach or something."

"Pigs also can."

"Imagine them walking around with a tortoise shell behind their backs." Lily tried to imagine and started laughing.

"That would be your idea of _sweet_ revenge??" Samantha asked in disbelief.

"Nah." Lily shook her head. "That can be a follow-up prank or appetizer only."

"But seriously I think the tortoise idea is pretty good." Joey agreed, grinning at the thought.

"It's good." Stefanie said rationally. "But how are we going to conjure any tortoise shell on their back without being too obvious??"

"Moreover our transfig. skills are far from brilliant in comparison."

"We can make a potion for that."

"Is there such a potion in the first place??"

"I doubt Porky would be happy if you ask him how to make a potion which can give people a tortoise shell."

"We don't need to ask him."

"But we need a lecturer permission to get to that section of the library."

"No better suggestions??" Lily asked. The three girls shook their heads.

"Since you say about wanting something that involve their underwear, how about making them wear their underwear and walk around??"

"And make sure they don't know that they're wearing only underwear."

"I strongly believe McGonagall will be the first to inform them to put on some clothes."

"That's not possible as well."

"C'mon, we won't lose out to those piggies."

"Piggies??"

"I thought it was tortoise??"

"No, it was himbos."

"Well, you understand what I'm trying to say, that's enough." The four girls sat silently in the dormitory and thought about a great prank.

"I've an idea." Lily said suddenly.

"I've an idea too." Stefanie added, winking at Lily.

"Don't speak first!!" Samantha ordered. "Let's sound proof the room and then discuss it on someone's bed."

"We need to sound proof that area as well, just to make sure." Joey added. The four girls crawled into the nearest bed, which used to be Arabella's.

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"Stef, it's up to you now." Lily whispered to Stefanie. Samantha and Joey gave her a nod and the four girls went their separate ways to play their role in the prank on the Marauders.

"Remus!!" Stefanie shouted across the Gryffindor common room. "Wait for me!!" The four Marauders halted in their position to wait for Stefanie.

"Are you girls doing those girls' stuffs today??" Remus asked in confusion.

"Yeah, we were having a discussion on make up earlier." Stefanie said nonchalantly but enough to bluff the Marauders. "We already spent four hours discussing about it. I don't think we can drag it any longer. Besides Sam was thinking of a new hairstyle but we all don't agree that she should cut it too short-"

"Okok, I don't really want to hear the details of the girls' talk." Remus said, putting his hand in front to stop Stefanie from going on and on about it. The other three Marauders started laughing at Remus' expression.

"So where are you guys going??" Stefanie asked innocently.

"The kitchens." Remus whispered into Stefanie's right ear.

"Let's go together??" Stefanie suggested.

"We better get going if we want something for tea." James reminded the lovey-dovey couple in front of them.

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Lily was looking at the five teenagers who were busy talking at the entrance of Gryffindor tower for about five minutes before they left the common room. Making sure that Samantha was standing guard the boys' dormitory staircase for her, she quickly ran up to the sixth-year boys' dormitory. _Stefanie and Remus sure share everything, right down to the password of their dormitory._

"Once a Marauder, always a Marauder." Lily whispered after making sure no one was around her. The door to the Marauder's dormitory cracked open and Lily sneaked in quickly, closing the door behind her quietly.

_Great, who's holding onto the Invisibility Cloak??_

"Accio James' Invisibility Cloak." Lily muttered, holding up her wand for the Summoning Charm. James' Invisibility Cloak did fly towards Lily. _Were the guys carrying the Marauder's Map?? I think they would be since they're going to the kitchens._

She crept around the boys' dormitory to check out the surroundings before covering herself with the Cloak and left the dormitory. Moving swiftly down the steps, she was back to the Gryffindor common room.

"I'm done. Going back to the dorm to keep the cloak." Lily whispered to Samantha's ear. Samantha nodded to acknowledge that she heard her, and then she turned to continue the next part of the prank.

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"The sleeping draught is here." Joey came back into the dormitory happily.

"Great." Lily praised. She was trying to keep the Invisibility Cloak in a safe place where the guys could not use the Summoning Charm on it.

"Pomfrey was more than happy to give me more than just one vial." Joey was telling Lily. "More than enough to let all the guys sleep for ten times."

"We use it once for this prank and save the rest for the best. Besides it won't be refreshing to keep using the same prank."

"I know. Just trying to tell you how much of the draught we've got now."

"Thanks Jo."

"You're welcome. Let's get to the next part of the prank."

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"Can we go outside??" Stefanie pleaded the guys.

"What's so interesting outside??" Sirius asked bluntly.

"It's _too _boring inside." Stefanie replied.

"Why don't you get Remus to keep you company?? We've got other things to do as well."

"Like what??"

"Like trying to date dear old Lily." Sirius said teasingly.

"Not that." James defended.

"Then why don't we all go outside to the lake together??" Stefanie taunted.

"Sure, anyway it had been a long time since I last seen Giant." The Marauders followed Stefanie unenthusiastically out to the Hogswart Lake whereby they just sat down to enjoy the breeze.

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"Got the book." Samantha said triumphantly as she came into the room.

"At least we still have some time to make the potion."

"Too bad the Sleepy Draught can't be made within a few hours, if not we don't even need to ask Pomfrey for it."

"Those animals related potions require the actually animal hair itself." Samantha pointed out.

"So we need something from the turtle."

"And the only place where we can get those are from Porky's collection."

"How about we make another potion??" Lily suggested naughtily.

"Which one??" Joey asked.

"This one." Lily pointed at the name of the potion in the index.

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"So you guys know the whole procedures??" Lily asked again.

"Yes Madam. We know our roles." Stefanie said laughingly.

"No worries, it'll be a foolproof prank." Samantha said assuringly.

"It gotta be foolproof. Do you know how much hard work we put in for this??"

"Approximately five hours of today??" Stefanie said teasingly.

"Alright, let's get going." Samantha reminded. The four girls crept out of the dormitory and headed towards the boys' dormitory.

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"So we're going to make Snivellus dance again??"

"Or Malfoy sing again??"

"Can't we come up with something better than this??"

"No bright ideas."

"Padfoot??"

"All the pranks were my ideas. It's about time someone else use their brain."

"Do something in their shower??"

"We already did it more than ten times in various forms."

"Food??"

"Too many to count."

"Sleep??"

"Please."

"Then??"

"I'm outta ideas."

KkknNnooOOcccKKK!!

"Who's that??" James raised his brows in surprise.

"Stef." Stefanie said in a pretended annoyed tone.

"Oh." Remus jumped up from his seat and went to open the dormitory door. "What's up??"

"Stef, it's midnight!!" Sirius said in an exasperated voice.

"I suddenly thought to Remus so I pop by to take a quick look." Stefanie said sweetly as she pushed open the door and trooped in. "Besides we were making lemonade in the dorm so I brought some over for Remus."

"Only for Remus??" Peter asked.

"If you guys want, I can let you each have some." Stefanie said swiftly.

"Jeez, thanks." Sirius said. "I help myself." He got up and took the bottle of lemonade and poured some into his goblet. "Prongs??"

"I want some too." Sirius poured the lemonade into four goblets and passed it around the guys.

"What about you??" Remus asked Stefanie.

"Drink until I'm so sick of it." Stefanie said nonchalantly. "Jo suddenly had the urge to make lemonade and she brought so much lemons back from the last Hogsmeade visit."

"That's nice." James said to no one in particular.

"Is it sweet enough??" Stefanie asked Remus softly.

"Yeah. I'm feeling kinda sleepy." Remus told Stefanie before falling onto Stefanie for support.

"The drink-" Sirius said, but before he could complete his sentence, he dozed off on the floor.

The three girls behind removed the Invisibility Cloak and Lily put it by the door so they would remember to bring it along before they leave.

The four girls quickly stripped the Marauders, two by two, until they were left with nothing but boxers.

"Rearrange." Samantha whispered. The used magic to suspend the four guys in mid-air while trying to arrange them in an entangled position.

"This should be ok." Joey said as she transfigured the area around the guys into a green grass patch.

"Should be fine. Just a photo pose." Stefanie said and she took the camera from Samantha and took a few pictures from various angles.

"Ok, back to bed." Lily said and the four guys were magicked onto the bed.

"Change deco." Stefanie said. The four girls changed the bedspreads and curtains of their bed into a flowery pattern.

"I do the boxers." Lily said as she changed the design of James' boxers to repeated patterns for piles of droppings, Sirius' to sunflowers, Remus' to moon and stars, and Peter's to penguin pattern.

"Send them off." They threw the one-use disposable portkey onto each of the beds. Within seconds, the four beds disappeared from the boys' dormitory.

"High five!!" Lily started high-fiving with the three other girls before they covered themselves with in Invisibility Cloak and left the boys' dormitory.

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"It's the Marauders!!"

"Look at their sleeping positions!!"

"Oh my god!!"

"Sirius' quilts are so cute!!"

"James' comforters gonna be mine!!"

"Don't touch Sirius, he's mine!!"

"I'll get Remus' curtains!!"

"What's the chaos??" Lily asked in a pretended innocence as the four girls stepped into the Great Hall. Right in front of the teacher's table stood four beds of very flowery and feminine looking decoration.

"I don't know. Do you??" Samantha pretended, trying hard not to laugh.  
  


"Let's not be bothered by the unnecessary chaos and continue with our breakfast." Stefanie said in a pretended serious tone, which sounded like about to burst out laughing any moment.

"We gonna have all the food for ourselves." Joey said, pointing at the nearly emptied Gryffindor table. Nearly all the girls were in front of the hall surrounding and climbing onto the Marauders' beds, some guys were watching and eating at the same time in front while the rest remaining at the table were keeping a close watch on what was happening from their view.

"Let's dig in." Lily said excitedly. "I mean how often do we get the whole bench to ourselves."

"You've got a point there." Samantha agreed. The four girls sat at the far end of Gryffindor table, watching the commotion as they eat.

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_What's all that noise?? I'm trying to sleep. _James tossed around and used his pillow to cover his face. _How come I'm feeling so tired but yet my mind is conscious?? _He tried to open his eyes but to no avail because it was rather glaring. _What a bright day. Who cares if my dreams are noisy?? Sleep is important._

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"Looks like they're still sound asleep." Stefanie commented, watching more of the happenings on Remus' bed than the rest.

"Definitely." Lily agreed. "I added a couple of millimeters more than the normal dosage."

"That's double of what is allowed??" Samantha questioned.

"Not double, more of a little more than necessary." Lily defended. "My target is James and I want him to sleep more. How would I know in the end Sirius drank the most??"

"I wonder if they would wake up soon." Joey said. "Lessons are starting in like fifteen minutes time."

"The main thing is whether the students can tear themselves away from the hall." Samantha joked.

"More likely most of the junior girls, you mean."

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"Sirius' snores are soooo cute!!"

"James is another big snorer!!"

"Remus is a silent sleeper!!"

"Peter is snoring pretty loudly!!"

_Who are those people talking in my sleep?? And why are they talking such strange stuffs?? _Remus wanted to check what was going on around him but he just could not bring himself to even open his eyes. _This is the strangest dream ever._

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_Bell is so sexy._ Sirius drooled slightly in his wet dreams. He was in such a deep sleep that he was oblivious to the noise pollution around him, except the fact that he was having some trouble breathing normally due to the stuffiness. But of course, he did not think that he was slightly hyperventilating due to that.

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"Enough of the nonsense!!" A fierce female voice called out from the back. The students stopped whatever they were doing to the four Gryffindors and stood back. "What do you think you all are trying to do??"

"Professor, the Marauders are sleeping in the Great Hall and this is definitely something out of the ordinary." A prefect spoke up.

"I'll settle that." Professor McGonagall replied in her typical no-nonsense voice. "It's time for the first lesson of today."


	77. More Paybacks Coming

**Chapter 76: More Paybacks Coming**

"I bet it's the Slytherins. They must be doing this to revenge on the Marauders."

"I believe that's the case too." Another girl was telling her friends. "Who else have such big revenge on the Marauders??"

"They're all out to embarrass the Marauders. Must be jealous of them or something."

"The Marauders are like the coolest guys in history. How I wish Sirius would just notice me."

"I still like the mysterious aura Remus show around. Shy and soft-spoken type."

"James is the best. So cool and in control of everything. He's like so perfect in every aspect. Every girl's dream guy." The fourth girl said.

Lily was eating her lunch and she nearly choked when she heard the comment a fourth-year made regarding James.

"Calm down. Not everyone think so lowly of James like the way you do." Stefanie teased.

"I thought we all think he's a jerk??" Lily queried.

"Yes, he's a jerk and everything. But ultimately he's indeed a dream guy." Samantha commented.

"Sam, you can't be on his side. You're my friend."

"I'm not on his side or anything. I'm on your side, of course. Otherwise why would I risk my good records to help you??"

"But why are you speaking well of him."

"She's stating the fact actually." Joey commented.

"Alright, I know how _perfect_ everyone think James is. But not me, okay??"

"We didn't _force_ you to think he is perfect, did we??"

"Alright, three against one."

"Anyway what do you think they're doing right now??" Stefanie asked suddenly. The four beds with their respective users had been cleared from the Great Hall, but the topic of the day was still hanging around. Various groups of people were discussing about that matter, including the Slytherins.

"Trying to wake up in the Hospital Wing??" Lily suggested.

"Not in their dorm??"

"More likely in McGonagall's office."

"We shall wait and see."

"Tomorrow we shall go on with operation part two." Lily whispered to the three other girls.

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"What do you think you four are doing when you decided to change your sleeping location??" Professor McGonagall demanded from the four sleepy looking boys.

"We don't know what happened either." James replied groggily.

"It's not our fault. We didn't know we were there." Remus said sincerely.

"It's not that I'm going to believe you again. You guys were caught sleeping in the common room, prefect's room, classrooms, even the toilets, in the last six years. Do you think I'm that stupid to believe the four of you were not involved in making yourselves sleeping in the middle of the Hall??" Professor McGonagall barked.

"How about you give us some of the Veritaserum??" James requested. "Then you'll know that we're stating the truth."

"It's not necessary. It might be a revenge from some other pupils."

"Then why are we getting punished instead??"

"Because the four of you can't seems to get enough detentions. Mr. Filch already had a whole chest of drawers dedicated to the four of you. Can't the four of you just behave yourselves??" Professor McGonagall said in a strict tone. "Especially you, James. Since you're a prefect so you got to be a role model to the younger students." She turned to face Remus. "And you too, Remus, I expected better behavior from you for being the other prefect of Gryffindor."

"We'll track down the culprit of this whole thing." Sirius said in a sleepy tone. He appeared to be the drowsiest among the four Marauders.

"It's not necessary. Let this be a lesson for the four of you." Professor McGonagall said in a surrendered voice. "Put on some clothes before going anywhere else."

"Erm, our clothes are all in our dorm." Peter said in a soft voice.

"SUMMON THEM HERE!!"

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"Looks like everyone believed that those Slytherins did it." Stefanie whispered to the four girls during dinnertime.

"They're taking away all our credits. That was too brilliant for them." Lily said sourly.

"Think of it this way, if anything happens, they'll get the punishments." Samantha pointed out.

"It's like killing two birds with one stone." Joey added.

"Alright, they can take all the credit for them."

"Then we shall come up with more pranks."

"Lily, don't be too greedy. Just this once is enough."

"Preparing a prank is not easy. I would prefer to be laughing over one of them instead."

"So the job of the Marauders isn't all that easy."

"Well, we're experiencing it now, aren't we??"

"Strange, they're not around for dinner."

"Maybe they're too embarrassed to come down."

"Or perhaps they're busy thinking of revenge for the Slytherins."

"Well, it's difficult to say."

"So how're we going to drug them to take the potion??"

"We sneak into their bedroom, feed them with a wee bit of the Sleeping Draught, and then drop a few drops of that potion into their mouth."

"It's gonna be a concentrated one."

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"Who could have done such a prank on us??" James commented. The four guys were now hanging out in their dormitory for a major meeting after getting their dinner from the kitchens directly.

"It must be the Slytherins." Sirius said definitely. "Who would so such a thing on us??"

"How did they go about doing it??" Remus questioned. _I got this gut feeling that this got something to do with Stef._

"To start with, I don't think they've the brains to think of something like this."

"They wouldn't know the password to Gryffindor tower, not to mention our dormitory password."

"The only person who know the password is Stef." Sirius said slowly.

"So you mean the girls did that to us??"

"That's a bigger possibility than Slytherins definitely."

"Why would they do such a thing to us??" Remus asked in bewilderment.

"I've no clue." Sirius said bluntly. "To think that we trusted them with everything."

"I'm sure they pulled such a major prank on us for a reason." Remus persisted. "Wormtail, did you offend them??"

"No, I didn't. Why would I??" Peter defended himself.

"Padfoot??"

"Not me. Ok, maybe I did in a sense or so, I don't remember how I offended any of them actually."

"It's me." James admitted.

"What did you do??" James told them briefly about the run-in with Lily last weekend, and he generally skipped the private details about it.

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"Do you think they would have figured out we pulled that prank on them by now??" Lily paused her homework for a moment to ask her friends in the dormitory.

"I think they might be." Stefanie looked up from her homework. "Afterall Remus is there."

"I believe James and Sirius don't have the brains to think, but well, Remus do have some brains."

"So what about our next plan??"

"We gotta carry it out by hook or by crook."

"Not that serious, right??"

"I was practically _molested_ by that idiot!!"

"Calm down, you didn't _see_ him doing it."

"That's because he was _invisible_!!"

"Lils, calm down."

"How could I??" Lily gritted her teeth. "That jerk!!"

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"I'm going with you." Stefanie offered.

"I'm okay by myself since I've this." Lily declined, covering herself with James' cloak.

"I don't want you to go alone."

"Lils, don't take too long."

"We'll wait for your good news."

"Let's go then." Stefanie said and the two girls disappeared under the cloak. The sixth-year girls' dormitory opened and closed with a gentle crack, leaving Samantha and Joey waiting inside.

"Thanks Stef." Lily whispered appreciatively.

"Don't mention it." Stefanie smiled. "That's what friends are for."

The two girls sneaked up the boys' dormitory as silently as possible. It was three in the morning and most of the students would be asleep at this time since they would have lessons in the morning at nine.

They stopped outside of the Marauders' dormitory and try to hear for any traces of movement inside. After ensuring the coast was clear, Stefanie whispered the password and the door opened with a deafening crack. They crept into the dormitory towards a corner of the room and waited for any signs of movement.

Lily caught Stefanie's eyes in the darkness and gave the signal to head towards James' bed first. In perfect synchrony, they tiptoed towards James' bed. Stretching out her hand, Stefanie dripped a few drops of the Sleeping Draught into his mouth and Lily followed up with several drops of the potion from her vial.

Then they proceeded on towards Sirius whereby they put the similar dosage as James. For Remus and Peter, they reduced them a little so the effect would not be too great for them.

"Let's go." Lily mouthed the words to Stefanie and both girls crept out from the slightly ajar door and closed it as silently as possible after them. This time they walked faster than before and reached their own dormitory in five minutes flat.

"How was it??" Samantha asked excitedly. All Lily and Stefanie replied was thumb-up signs.

"Great." Joey said enthusiastically. "We're going to watch another show tomorrow."

"At least it would be a seven-days long drama."

"How I wish it would last for even longer than just that??"

"That would be really flattering for them."

"Let's get to sleep. I don't want to miss the good show tomorrow morning." Stefanie laughed.

"Remember to wake me up to go for an early breakfast too." Lily said as she popped into the bed.

"Don't forget to apply your night cream." Samantha called out from her curtained bed.


	78. Marauders' Feminine Side

**Chapter 77: Marauders' Feminine Side**

"Jamsie!!" Sirius called with a very fake sounding high-pitched voice. "Get out of the bathroom right now!! I need to dress up for breakfast!!"

"Sirie darling, there's a mirror here as well." Remus reminded Sirius gently.

"Remmy, you don't understand, the mirror in the bathroom is _bigger_." Sirius pouted a little.

"It's the same, my dear." Peter looked over at Sirius and turned back in front of the mirror styling his hair.

"Can't I just have some privacy to squeeze my pimple??" Sirius pouted again, arms crossed, standing right in front of the bathroom, knocking the door once very few seconds. "Jamesie!!"

"Coming!!" James gave a muffled reply from the bathroom, in a pitch much higher and gentler than the usual him. Finally the door opened to reveal a very refreshed looking James.

"This is one of the rare mornings you're looking so good." Remus complimented.

"Thanks Remmy, by the way did you see my underwear??" James asked, digging his trunk. His olive green towel wrapped around his body, which covered his chest till his thigh.

"So sorry, I don't know where are your underwear."

"Aaahhh!!" Sirius screamed in the bathroom. The three guys got a shock and rushed to check out what was happening.

"What happened??" Remus frowned with concern.

"My breasts are sagging!!" Sirius used his hands to cup his previously muscular chest, which became breasts overnight.

"Wear a push-up bra for goodness sake." James said, rather annoyed by the din Sirius made.

"That reminds me. Anyone see any bras anywhere??" Peter spoke up.

"Good question."

"Do we have any bras to start with??"

"I don't know. But I don't remember wearing any last night or yesterday."

"It's getting late. Transfig. some to last for today first."

"What size do you gals wear??" James asked.

"Thirty-four D." Sirius replied promptly.

"Are you sure yours are _that_ huge??" James raised his brows in doubt.

"I can alter it if they're too big or too small."

"More like too big." James muttered under his breath.

"At least mine are bigger than yours."

"Ha, I'm pretty satisfied with my thirty-six C." James replied as he transfigured a pink bra for himself and a lacey red bra for Sirius.

"I'll need a push-up with maximizer." Peter told James.

"No prob, dear." James transfigured a black bra with a thick sponge for the push-up effect. "Remmy??"

"Just a simple thirty-four B will do." Remus replied modestly.

"Give you a little push up for some cleavage." James transfigured a blue satiny bra out from the fourth quill.

"Don't forget the matching undies." Sirius reminded, speaking in between his teeth flossing.

"Are you done with your washing up??" James asked as he transfigured any four quills into matching undies of the right size.

"Soon. Wait for me."

"Aren't we already waiting for you, princess Sirie??" James replied in a whiney tone, adjusting his bra after putting on his black uniform top which he altered it to be body hugging.

"Do something about our hair while waiting." Remus told James, putting on his track shoes, which he modified it to the ladies version to suit his outfit.

"Sirie, you don't need to dress so sexily for breakfast, we still need to go for lessons." James told Sirius in a slightly exasperated voice. "There's something known as uniform, my dear." Sirius had appeared out of the bathroom wearing a knee-length flowery skirt and white spaghetti stripped top.

"Slip out of my mind. I thought it was Sunday." Sirius said, quickly changed into his set of uniform, which he altered it so as to accentuate his hourglass figure.

"Let's get going. We only have thirty minutes left for breakfast." James reminded, checking his newly pink-colored watch for time.

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"Wooohooo!!" Wolf whistles can be heard from various guys from the different houses.

"Who're those four girls??"

"Don't know. New??"

"Doubt so. They must have been around for some time."

"They look strangely familiar."

"Where are those girls from??"

"Look at their figures."

"Definitely dazzling."

The Marauders sashayed along the corridors from Gryffindor towards the Great Hall. It was a rare sight that the Gryffindor common room was emptied that morning and hence, none of the fellow Gryffindors spotted their change.

"Do you notice that everyone seems to be staring at us??" Remus spoke softly to the other three Marauders.

"We're too gorgeous, that's why." Peter replied factually.

"Petie is right this time." Sirius agreed. "We're just too stunning."

"Remmie, don't worry." James patted Remus' arm. "You look beautiful. Relax, okie??"

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"What's keeping them??" Lily asked her three friends. The four sixth-year Gryffindors were among the first few to be hanging out at the Great Hall in order not to miss the good show coming up that morning.

"Dressing up, I supposed." Joey said simply. "I mean that's what _girls_ do in the morning."

"Well, we do that in the mornings." Samantha agreed. "But I'm not too sure if they would do that."

"They had our _essence_." Lily commented and the four girls laughed at their little joke.

"I don't think that few strands of hair can be too much of an essence." Stefanie remarked, smiling away.

"I think we used more than what was recommended."

"Don't worry too much. It will only make them more girlish, that's all."

"Wonder if they would reach the extent of experiencing PMS."

"Actually they would only be _this_ way for a week. Can't get that far."

"Imagine they get pregnant."

"I can't imagine actually."

"How about Stef kissing the female Remus??"

"I promise I won't kiss him, oops, I mean her, this week." The four girls were chatting animatedly in their conversation until a sudden commotion at the Great Hall entranced bring to a standstill to it.

"Thank you so much, my _dearrr_." Sirius called out in this super unusual high-pitched voice to the guy who had offered himself as his escort to the Great Hall.

"You're welcome." The Hufflepuff guy replied from where he was seated.

Lily almost choked on her chocolate milk when she saw how Sirius looked that morning. In fact all four girls were trying very hard not to burst out laughing and gave themselves away.

"Oh my gosh!!" Stefanie muttered as she covered her mouth with her palm, laughing very hard. Sirius did look different.

"It is nearly impossible to guess that was the big prankster Sirius Black in disguise." Samantha said in the midst of laughter.

"Wait till the rest come in." Lily said, laughing very hard among some of the other students.

"You don't have to wait very long." Joey pointed at the three girls who were making a grand entrance.

"May I know the sacred name of this beautiful lady here??" A sixth-year Hufflepuff, Amos Diggory went towards James and asked.

"Call me Jamie." James replied flirtatiously. The four girls were staring wide-eyed, mouth opened at the speaking duo. James Potter and Amos Diggory rarely had any decent conversation, not to mention such an introduction. That scene was definitely an amazing change.

"I'm Amos. Please to meet you." Amos replied politely. "Have I seen you around before??"

"Oh yes, you certainly has." James replied, blinking shyly but yet flirtatiously at Amos. "I remember seeing you around."

"I must have been blind to miss noticing your graced presence." Amos and James were in the once-in-a-lifetime conversation in front of the Gryffindor table whereby the four girls were watching. Remus and Peter, who were less captivating as women were already settled at the Gryffindor table, waiting for James and Sirius to finish their morning flirting.

"Do we flirt that much??" Samantha asked innocently.

"Actually we don't." Joey replied. "But if we add all our flirting skills together, that might just be the result." James actually started holding onto Amos' elbow, letting him lead the way to the place where Remus and Peter were seated.

"I don't think we would hold any guy's hand just like that." Stefanie commented.

"But then again, our _essence_ is at work." Lily grinned mischievously.

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"I can't believe they were the Marauders."

"They're too pretty to be the Marauders!!"

"Someone must have drugged them."

"Must be the Slytherins. Look at what they did to the Marauders the last time."

"But James and Sirius actually looked stunning at ladies."

"Did you see Amos' face when he realized that was James in disguise??"

"He practically disinfects his arm where James held on earlier."

"I think he rinsed his mouth and brushed his teeth as well."

"I wonder who did that to the Marauders."

"They're the coolest guys around."

"They had proven to be the coolest _girls_ around as well."

Lily and Stefanie were walking together along the corridor. They had separated from Samantha and Joey who headed towards the library while they were heading back to the Gryffindor tower.

"Finally someone noticed they were the Marauders in disguise after the first class." Lily and Stefanie were speaking in low voices, for fear others might eavesdrop their conversation.

"It's a pity we didn't get to see Diggory's face when he realized that was James."

"They might as well as be girls for good. Their popularity had soared again today."

"Anyway we better talk about it in the dorm."

"Let's write Bell a letter since we've two free periods."

"Great idea."

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_Dearest Bellebella.._

_          How are you?? We missed you so much!! Something exciting happened today that we felt that it's a must to let you know the first hand news. Guess what?? The Marauders are girls today!!_

_          Bet you must be wondering why. It all started with James, pissing me off. No point going into details. Anyway I wanted to let him have a taste of his own medicine, so we came up with a prank and pulled on the Marauders. Just teleporting their beds to the Great Hall, nothing big. We attached two photos together to let you know how they looked like when they were sleeping in the Great Hall._

_          Then for the main prank, we did the Transsexual Potion. We used a bit of all our hair for it and the outcome is, none other than the very girlie Marauders. You can imagine the rest. We gave a higher dosage for James and Sirius because they're like the Masters of Pranksters. Obviously I fed even more on James. Results shown that three drops made a difference._

_          Lils had already written majority of the letter. She's just so excited over the prank. Well, you know, the mastermind of the whole thing. The thing is everyone believes that the Slytherins are behind all these. But I believe the guys are smart enough to know that Slytherins aren't that brainy to do something like that. All they know are just hexes._

_          Do keep us updated about your well-being. We're all very concerned about your life with the muggles. Hope that this letter would not bring too much commotion to your life over there with an owl flying around. Reply soon._

_Lots of Love,_

_Stef and Lils (Sam and Jo are not around at the moment but we represent them for this letter as well)_

Arabella laughed as she finished reading the letter twice. Lily's small owl was still waiting by the desk in her room, waiting for a reply from her.

_Will write soon. Not too convenient now._

_Bell_

She wrote a quick note with a ballpoint pen on normal white foolscap and tied it onto Tinkerbell's leg. Making sure that no one was looking at her window, she let the owl out. _I really envy you gals. Having fun in Hogwarts._

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"That's fast." Stefanie took the note from Tinkerbell's leg. "Oh, just a quick note."

"What did she say??"

"Nothing much. Just 'Will write soon. Not too convenient now.' only."

"Alright, let's hope she write back soon."

"How about writing a quick note to Yvette and gang??"

"Yeah, it had been such a long time." Lily grabbed another parchment and sat by Stefanie's desk to write.

_Dearest Yvette, Shannie, Jennifer and Yvonne,_

_          How are you girls getting along?? It had been sometime since we last wrote. Well, you're not forgotten obviously. By the way we just want to let you know that we had this major prank on the Marauders. First, we teleported their bed into the middle of the Great Hall the other day, today, we just made them transform to girls. It's really tiring to be a prankster actually, so many stuffs to carry out. Well, hope you girls did something to the F4 too. Because that certainly do spice things up a little, I don't mean that yours aren't spicy enough. Just kidding. Reply soon._

_Lots of Love,_

_Stefanie and Lily_

Lily tied the parchment onto Tinkerbell's leg after it was dried.

"Bring this to Yvette, it's a long way though." Lily patted Tinkerbell's feathers. "Go for a break after this delivery." With that, the owl flew into the midday sky.

"It's about time for lunch." Stefanie said.

"That's fast." Lily replied in a slightly shocked manner.

"Time always flies the fastest when we're relaxing."

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"Can't believe we are actually _men_!!" James said, in a furious sounding high-pitched tone.

"You didn't like being a man??" Remus teased.

"Well, we're enjoying life as _women_ now, while we can." Sirius said humorously.

"Imagine you're stuck with being a _woman_ for life." James said exasperatedly.

"You won't." Remus said factually. "We're on the Transsexual Potion. It wears off after a week."

"We must be good enough. I think it might wear off in a day."

"This is so humiliating."

"Personally, I felt it was pretty fun."

"It won't be fun if you thought Diggy is your admirer and start flirting with him."  
  


"That's unimaginable, I understand. But besides that, what's else??"

"That's enough to make my _womanly _life unimaginable."

"But who knows you might love it so much that you decide to become a woman for good."

"Moony, trust me, I won't and never ever want to be a woman." James said in a final tone.


	79. Truce?

**Chapter 78: Truce??**

"So Lily de-" James started. "I mean Lily, so is your anger appeased yet??" James asked in his slightly high-pitched feminine voice. It had been about five days since the Marauders became female overnight and the potion power was starting to wear off.

"Alright, alright." Lily replied. "I'm pretty satisfied with the outcome." The two sixth-year Gryffindor prefects were doing their night patrol around the corridors.

"You should be disappointed that all the credits went to the Slytherins."

"It's alright actually. I mean they admitted that it was their prank after all."

"Cunning Slytherins, how could they take your credits??"

"Seriously I don't mind, neither do the rest of the accomplices mind either."

"If it's us, we'll admit before people get to assume they do it."

"I know."

"So how're you going to spend your Christmas??"

"I don't know." Lily looked down. "Maybe I might go to my new home, or perhaps I might stay with Stef at her home. But definitely we'll meet up with Bell. Afterall her birthday falls on Christmas day and we just can't skip celebrating her birthday."

"We all celebrated, have you forgotten??"

"I didn't forget. I mean the actual day is yet to come. Celebrate, yes. But still, make it a chance to meet up with her."

"Then we can have a mini party over at my place. I'm sure my mum won't mind."

"I've a question."

"What??"

"Do you all have any news of Fion??"

"I don't think so. Been receiving owls from Mum now and then, but they were just about the usual stuffs."

"Ooh. I hope she's fine."

"No news could mean good news."

"I'm keeping my fingers crossed for her too."

"Yeah." The two walked in silence since both party were unsure how to continue the conversation.

"So-" Both started at the exactly same time.

"You say first." James offered. His gentlemanly gestures were returning slowly while his lady-like manners slowly slipped off unknowingly as the potion wore off.

"Ok." Lily replied. "What is Sirius going to do during this break then??"

"I believe he would come with me. Given Sirius character, I think he would definitely not want to return to his home in Grimmauld Place. I mean, who would??"

"You've got a point. Looks like the both he and I have similar sentiments about home."

"That's because you didn't grow up there, that's why there's no sense of belonging."

"Yeah, pretty much out of a fairytale as well."

"I thought you girls like fairytales??"

"What makes you think so??"

"I had a wee bit of fantasy fairytale dreams a few nights ago. I supposed one of you actually like those sort of stuffs."

"Yeah, that's me."

"Fairytales are fake."

"I know."

"Then??"

"I like fantasy. The real world is too dark and evil."

"But we've to be realistic."

"Don't argue about this topic at this time of the night. I'm too tired to debate."

"Alright, we've about one hour more before off duty."

"Argh. I'm getting sleepy."

"I'll keep you entertained."

"Thanks but no thanks."

"You don't like my sense of humour??"

"Not that. Anyway never mind. So what was the thing you wanted to say??"

"I-"

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"Oh my god!!" Stefanie whispered rather loudly as she followed Lily from the entrance of their dormitory into the bathroom.

"Calm down. That guy only ask me to Hogsmeade and you're so excited over that."

"That's so cool!! Finally you two are working things out."

"Nothing is working. It's just a date. I know I would marry him someday and have a son name Harry. But please, skip the torture."

"It's not supposed to be torture. It's _love_."

"Yeah, he's not exactly the kind of Prince Charming I'm expecting."

"He's good enough. Don't get your expectations too high."

"I know you think really highly of Remus. But James isn't the same."

"I know what you mean. Anyway what I really want to say is that I'm glad that both of you start going out."

"We're not going out. It's just a casual date." Lily tried to defend herself but Stefanie had already left the bathroom, not listening to her explanation.

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"Prongsie, bravo!!" Sirius gave James a pat on his back. He had just told the three other Marauders that he had asked Lily out on the last weekend before the Christmas break.

"I'm surprised that Lily actually agreed so easily." James admitted.

"I'm surprised too. She's quite headstrong." Remus raised his brows in astonishment.

"Miracles do happen." James said in an unusual happy tone.

"Yeah, with Lily around, you see miracles." Remus commented in a teasing tone.

"She's a miracle to start with." James said and climbed into his bed and drew the curtains.

"That guy is love struck." Peter commented.

"Definitely." Sirius agreed.

"Lily is definitely not as simple as he thinks." Remus said with a smile. Sirius and Peter caught his wink and understood.

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"Aren't you excited??" Samantha asked Lily on Saturday morning.

"Excited over what??" Lily gave Samantha a I-know-what-you-are-thinking-of look.

"What do you think??"

"I don't know what to think."

"Wear something better??"

"What's wrong with my white tee and jeans??"

"Try skirt??"

"Please, spare me. I hate skirts."

"You look pretty in them."

"Thanks but no thanks. Don't keep suggesting, okay?? Otherwise you gonna be late for your date."

"Ooh. Don't worry, I'm ready to leave any minute."

"Sam, you forgot your wallet." Lily called out, as Samantha was about to leave the dormitory.

"Jeez, thanks." Samantha thanked Lily and with a quick bye, left the three girls dressing up in the dormitory.

"Gotta go." Joey said cheerfully as she walked grabbed her black sling bag and wore her boots.

"See ya tonight."

"Bye."

"Lils, don't keep James waiting." Stefanie reminded.

"I'm always the one waiting." Lily said nonchalantly.

"You never know." Stefanie gave Lily a wink.

"Oh please." Lily said exasperatedly. "I'm ready."

"Looks good." Stefanie praised Lily who was dressed in a simple white round-necked tee shirt and blue body hugging jeans with a flare at the bottom, which flattered her legs.

"Are you referring to yourself??" Lily said teasingly. Stefanie did take the effort to dress up. She was wearing a white blouse and knee length brown skirt and with matching low heels.

"I mean you."

"I look no different from the way I normally look."

"Whatever you say. Are you ready to go??"

"Yeah, let's go."

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"So where you wanna go??" James asked Lily. The Marauders were finally back to their normal masculine self.

"Hmm.. Zonkos??" Lily suggested after awhile.

"Since when are you interested in joke shop??"

"Ever since I did the world's funniest prank on the world's biggest prankster."

"That's a development."

"You bet." The two went into Zonkos and started browsing around. There were several Hogwarts students inside as well, purchasing stuffs like dungbombs and fireworks.

"These stuffs aren't fascinating anymore."

"That's because you know enough advanced magic to improve them."

"Sometimes we _make_ them as well."

"I noticed. So what's your next prank??"

"Do I look like I'm going to discuss about that in the heart of Hogsmeade?? What happen if there are paparazzi around??"

"You aren't famous enough to have them following you, yet."

"I think I'm famous enough."

"Apparently your head is still rather bulky."

"Huh??"

"Never mind."

"You done with the browsing??"

"Guess so, nothing interesting actually."

"Honeydukes??"

"Great. I miss the sweets there."

"I thought you always complain toothache??"

"Not always, once in a blue moon."

"Don't eat too much sweets."

"I don't eat a lot of sweets. I prefer chocolates."

"Don't eat too much sweet stuffs."

"Alright, naggy."

"Just being concern."

"Thanks."

"Are you thirsty??"

"Now that you mention it."

"Let's go to the Three Broomsticks after you're done with your purchases."

"Sure." Lily went to make her payment for some chocolates she took from the shelves. "Let's go." Both of them left Honeydukes and headed over to Three Broomsticks.

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"Hey look." Remus pointed at something.

"What??" Stefanie was trying to catch a glimpse of the vast number of heads at where Remus was pointing. The two were inside the bookstore when Remus caught sight of a messy-haired and redhead walking past.

"Wanna follow them??" Remus gave a mischievous grin.

"I don't see why not." Stefanie replied with the same grin plastered on her face.

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"The idea for Christmas sounds really great." Lily said excitedly.

"Well, it would be a simple gathering for all of us. We can invite Dumbledore and McGonagall for the dinner but they can skip the later part.

"Then we can go partying at night."

"Muggle partying??"

"Not necessary. We can just hang around waiting for Santa."

"Do you seriously believe Santa exists??"

"Not exactly. But no harm believing."

"Anyway that's not the point, right??"

"Duh. Anyway we can decide that after the Christmas dinner."

"Maybe one of those days we can go to your underwater city and explore."

"The last incident left me fears."

"This time I'll make sure nothing will happen to you."

"Ok. We can discuss together. Afterall we're going to return back to London tomorrow."

"Finished packing??"

"Sort of. Nothing much to bring anyway. Just some clothes and necessities. How about you??"

"Nothing to pack actually. I've stuffs at home as well."

"That's true. Oh, by the way is there anything else we can buy for Bell??"

"You've got the sweets, what else do you want to get her??"

"I don't know. Besides chocolates I really don't know what to get for her. She doesn't really eat sweets."

"Books??"

"I don't think so. She still keeps those books we used last time."

"Butterbeers??"

"We can make it at my place. I doubt it will taste like what we're drinking now, but not much difference."

"You guys getting her another birthday present??"

"Not really, but Stef and I are going to get her an ice cream cake for her birthday."

"Sounds cool."

"Of course, it's our idea."

"I'm kinda looking forward for the break. We had a tiring beginning."

"I know what you mean. Let's hope there're more peace for the next few months in school."

"I don't think so."

"Why not??"

"I heard from our Headboy that they're suggesting a Valentine Ball."

"Sounds fun."

"Nothing decided though. It's just our Heads idea, I don't think Dumbledore and Maggie had approved yet."

"McGonagall knows about the nick you guys gave her??"

"You can be assured that she knows and she likes it."

"Are you kidding??"

"Not kidding. Sirius and I had attempted in addressing her Maggie and sometimes she do reply to our callings."

"I'm sure her response is very different from how she would reply if you call her Professor."

"That's for sure. But we strongly believed that she is secretly happy about that little nick we gave her."

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"They're finally leaving after an hour of drinking butterbeers." Stefanie commented. The couple was sitting several tables away from Lily and James, making sure both of them had not spotted their existence in Three Broomsticks.

"Well, I'm sure they've lots to say to each other."

"If they just want to come all the way here just to talk. They might as well as stay in Gryffindor tower."

"I thought you girls dig all these romance and sorts??"

"How did you know??" Stefanie asked before she suddenly remembered. "How could I forget?? You guys were women for a week, obviously you know."

"That's why, the memories are still so fresh and vivid in my mind."

"Most of your feminine attributes are from Lily."

"I didn't know she is that feminine."

"Well, she can be."

"I still prefer your femininity."

"Jeez, that doesn't sound convincing."

"How can I ever convince you??"

"I don't know. Another drink perhaps??"

"How about a trip to the Shack??"

"Sounds good." Remus and Stefanie left the Three Broomsticks shortly after Lily and James, heading at the opposite direction from one another.

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"Thanks, I had a great time today." Lily said appreciatively as she started heading towards the girls' dormitory staircase.

"Me too." James replied. _Should I ask her now??_ "Hey Lils."

"Huh??" Lily turned back to face James. "Yes??" Several younger students in the Gryffindor common room turned to watch.

"Er, just want to ask - if you borrowed my cloak the other time." James said, giving himself a mental slap.

"Huh?? Er, yes, I did. But I returned it to you already. You mean you can't find it??" Lily frowned slightly.

"No worries. It's there. I'm just asking."

"Oh, I see. Now I know that if you want to be a great prankster, you need a great weapon."

"Haha, yes. True true."

"Anything else??"

"No."

"Good night then."

"Good night." Lily headed upstairs while James looked at her retreating figure for a while before heading up to his dormitory.


	80. Season Greetings

**Chapter 79: Season Greetings**

"BELL!!" Lily and Stefanie shrieked and rushed towards Arabella who just appeared at the doorway. It was the first day of the Christmas break and the group of five, excluding Peter, was all gathered together at the Potters' Manor.

"Woooh..!!" The three girls got into a hug and started jumping excitedly together.

"Girls." James muttered to his friends whom all three were sitting calmly in their respective couches.

"Don't forget you were once a girl as well." Remus reminded teasingly.

"How could I forget that humiliating incident??" James asked in a pretended dramatic voice.

"At least we can declared that we were once a girl." Sirius added, keeping his eyes glued on Arabella.

"Thanks, but I don't really like the idea of everyone knowing I was once a girl for a week." Remus commented.

"Moony, I'm with you for this." James gave Remus a high-five.

"It's a _privilege_ to be a girl." Lily commented. The three girls finally finished their hugging and turned back to the group in the den.

"Bell, it had been a long time!!" James gave Arabella a hug.

"It had been a long time indeed." Arabella grinned and returned the friendly hug.

"Great to see you." Remus smiled warmly and hugged Arabella.

"Nice to see you. Looking good, huh??"

"Yes, my dear old Bell." Sirius leaned forward to give Arabella a hug.

"Actually I'm not that old yet." Arabella remarked.

"So you admit that you're Sirius' _dear_??" James teased.

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"Voldemort had attacked again." The six teenagers gasped.

"Who was the target??" James asked, in fear of what the response would be.

"Several muggleborns from Gryffindor." Dumbledore said grimly. He had apparated over to the Potters to break the news to the group. "Unexpected attack as always."

"We need to do something about it." James said angrily.

"Yes, we need to do something for sure. But whatever to be done is no simple task."

"To defeat Voldemort, we're willing to do anything." Sirius said with determination.

"It's no easy task." Arabella reminded Sirius.

"We need a fail-proof plan. Otherwise more and more muggleborns are going to suffer." Lily said with a tinge of vengeance in her voice.

"Is it possible to travel through time in order to defeat Voldemort??" Remus asked. Everyone turned to face him.

"What do you mean??" Dumbledore asked, his brows rose slightly.

"Well, it's obvious that James and Lily will be killed by him and they're gonna have a son who would defeat him, but then, he would rise again after fourteen years. And how is Harry, I mean James' son, going to defeat a dark wizard all by himself?? We would be the ones who would defeat him according to the prophecy, but how could that be possible when our fate seemed to be death in Voldemort's hand??"

"That's a very good question." Dumbledore nodded in understanding. "But time is not something we can control, as well as destiny."

"Does that mean we can't come up with a plan to defeat him before he even kill us??" James asked.

"There is bound to be a reason why would he kill the two of you in particular. But what's the reason??" Stefanie asked.

"We're all trying to find out. But remember, all these happenings are predestined."

"So in conclusion, we are still powerless to do anything." Sirius said bluntly. He had voiced out all their thoughts though none of them felt right about saying it out.

"I would be lying if I say I'm not afraid of Voldemort." Lily admitted.

"But seriously, what can we do??" Stefanie asked.

"Did someone call my name??" Sirius tried to lighten the mood but to no avail. It was an old joke and no one felt it was funny anymore.

"My gut feeling tells me that this whole episode won't end so soon." Dumbledore said monotonously.

"What do you mean, Professor??" Remus asked.

"Well, as you all know he would be defeated and rise and defeated somehow. But Voldemort powers are beyond our knowledge. He had been an excellent student when he was in Hogwarts. I'm not lying when I say his grades and capability beat all of you combined together." The six faces appeared defeated at Dumbledore's statement.

"There must be something we can beat him in." James said while his fists clenched together tightly.

"We're good and he is evil. The good will win." Lily commented.

"That's a very good point. But the specificity isn't there."

"We need the power of goodness to defeat the power of evil." James rephrased Lily's statement.

"Yes, but how??" Sirius asked.

"There is a plan, though not necessary foolproof. But time will tell." Dumbledore said finally. "It's about time I make my move."

"Bye Professor."

Professor Dumbledore stood up and with a 'pop' and disapparated.

"So, now what??" Sirius asked.

"Even Dumbledore is having doubts, what do you think we can do??" Remus pointed out rationally.

"We can travel to the future to see how we're going to defeat Voldemort, then we continue on with the plan." Sirius said simply.

"What happen if Voldemort kill the six of us when we're there?? Then there's totally no hope for Voldemort defeat."

"Have anyone forgotten we've all these pendants that are supposed to be able to reflect magic??" Arabella commented and touch the pendant on her neck, which sparkled in the light.

"Bell, we've indeed forgot about that." Sirius exclaimed.

"Another thing is that, we can't meet up with our future self."

"We can hide."

"What if Voldemort defeat is in the middle of the desert?? Then where are we going to cover ourselves??"

"Then, we shall dig a hole in the sand and hide??"

"That's such a _brilliant_ idea, Sirius." Lily rolled her eyes. Sirius had always managed to lighten the mood after those dark and gloomy discussions they usually had with Dumbledore.

"Yeah, we're going to be buried alive. Voldemort can save his powers in killing us, because we're simply digging our own grave." James commented. The six of them laughed, for the first time since Dumbledore's visit earlier.

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"Happy birthday to you!! Happy birthday to you!! Happy birthday to Arabella!! Happy birthday to you!!" 

"Thank you!!"

"Make a wish!!" Sirius said excitedly.

Arabella closed her eyes and put her hands together entwining her fingers together. _I wish that one day I'd regain my magical ability._ She opened her eyes and blew off the sixteen candles on the napoleon ice cream cake.

"Thank you!!" Arabella said gratefully. It was Christmas day and just in that morning, they had exchanged their Christmas presents.

"Let's dig in!!" Sirius said with a greedy laugh, having a metal fork and spoon on hand.

"You don't need fork and spoon to eat a cake." Stefanie teased.

"We need fork to eat cake and spoon to eat the ice cream inside. I've every intention of eating both of them."

"We noticed that." James commented. "But we're not losing to you either." With that, James and Remus had their fork and spoon in their hands and started to dig in.

"We mustn't lose out to them." Lily said, grabbing the fork and spoon on the table.

"I want to eat my birthday cake too." Arabella said, trying to scoop some cake up.

In a chaotic exchange, six growing teenagers finished the one-kg ice cream cake within five minutes. Obviously it was not a clean cake-eating session as most of them had specks of ice cream and icing around their faces and even their hair, not to mention some stained onto their clothes as well.

"The cake is too small!!" Sirius complained after the cake was finished, to the last drip of ice cream.

"Are you kidding me?? You guys ate three-quarters of the cake!!"

"We're growing boys."

"Padfoot, I don't know about you. But I believe I've already outgrown the boy, into a man." Remus teased.

"Well, I still feel young, and hence, I'm still a boy."

"Yeah, you'll have to face the real world soon."

"Let's forget about serious stuffs today. Shall we go for a game of quidditch??" Arabella asked. The five turned to face her. "I mean you five play, I watch along the sidelines. It had been a long time since I last watched a quidditch match."

"I keep you company." Both Lily and Stefanie offered.

"It's no fun to watch just three guys playing."

"I keep you company instead. Let them go two-versus-two." Sirius suggested.

"It wouldn't be nice to watch if the star beater is not in the team."

"It's alright because the other star beater isn't in the game either." Arabella gave Sirius an appreciative smile for the sensitive statement he made.

"Let's go before the sky gets dark." James suggested. With their usual enthusiasm, they headed towards the quidditch pitch at the back of Potter's Manor.

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"Bell, what have you been doing all these while actually??" Lily asked Arabella. The three girls were laying in the king sized bed in their bedroom. It was their last night of their Christmas break before they were supposed to return to their respective place for the rest of the year.

"Huh?? I thought I told you that earlier??" Arabella said in confusion. "I'm still staying at the orphanage, helping out with stuffs there. And in the day I go to a local school."

"I saw you and Dumbledore exchanging some sort of look during our brief discussion that day."

"You're seeing things."

"I'm quite sure. It's like there's something you two know but the rest of us don't."

"Lils, don't always have so many questions. When the time comes, you'll learn them."

"But I'm curious."

"So am I. What are you hiding from us??"

"Don't be so paranoid, alright?? Everything is doing fine. Let's not talk about something so serious."

"We can't write down in letters for fear of interception either."

"Lils, Stef, I'm not lying or anything okay?? Trust me. I'm doing fine. Though I must admit I missed Hogwarts a great deal. Besides that, there's really nothing."

"Well, we can't force you either."

"Thanks Stef."

"Let's not talk about that, shall we??"

"Then find another topic soon??"

"The topic will be – how are you and James getting along??"

"What??"

"His birthday coming soon."

"Yeah, in January, I know."

"Then what do you intend to do??"

"What do you mean what do I intend to do??"

"How would I know??"

"Given the Marauders, they will make a big deal about it."

"Yeah, like getting the Slytherins to sing him the birthday song everytime they're ten meters in his radius."

"So, what are you getting him??"

"Aren't we sharing the present as always??"

"You should get something personally for your _boyfriend_."

"Ahem, let me make this clear, he's not my boyfriend or husband or any relationship besides a friend."

"He'll be your boyfriend _soon_, your husband in the _future_."

"Haha, _thanks a lot_ for that compliment."

"Everyone is dying to be his girlfriend."

"Well, he can get everyone then."

"But he wants you."

"Oh, wow!! So I'm supposed to be very flattered, huh??" Lily said in pretended excitement. "Now it's my turn to suggest if we can change the topic to something not related to Lily and James story. Thank you."

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"What do you mean by you hasn't do anything yet?!?" Sirius exclaimed loudly.

"Would you mind keeping you voice down??" Remus said.

"First, it's nearly midnight. Secondly, the girls' room is just next door."

"The more we should let Lily know how you feel towards her??" Sirius said in a even louder voice.

"Thanks but I don't think that's necessary."

"Prongs, don't be stubborn. You can't get her by yourself. You need our help."

"_Seriously_ Sirius, thanks for your offer but I think I prefer to do it alone."

"How could you reject my kind offer??"

"I would prefer lesser interruptions in this case."

"Padfoot, just leave James and Lily alone, they will get together eventually, without your help."  
  


"Moony, do you know something I don't??"

"Actually I know a lot more things which you don't know."

"Like what??"

"A good example is I have more commonsense."

"I've that as well."

"Not as much as mine."

"Moony, since when are you as self-obsessed as Prongsie here??"

"Padfoot, I must say you're the most self-obsessed among us here." James pointed out and both Remus and him burst into laughter, with Sirius joining in after awhile.

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"We're going to miss you so much!!" The three girls got into a hug together once again. But this time they were leaving and who knows when they would meet again.

"Girls, we need to send Bell off first before we head down to King Cross." Helen Potter said in her ever so patient tone despite the girls had been reluctant to separate from one another for the last half hour.

"We better get going or we're never going to reach Hogwarts." James said.

"Alright then. I better set off now or else you all are going to be late." Arabella released herself from the entanglement and went into the muggle cab that Mrs. Potter had called for her to take her back.

"Take care." James and Remus gave her a short hug before Sirius.

"Yeah, you too." Arabella replied, releasing herself from Sirius' strong arms.

"Miss you lots!!" Lily called out before the Arabella entered the cab. She turned and gave her friends a last look and wave before the cab turned right and lost sight of her friends.

"We better get going or else I don't know how I'm going to send you all to Hogwarts." Mrs. Potter said good-naturedly. The five teenagers climbed into their family limousine and drove towards King Cross.


	81. Birthday Surprise

**Chapter 80: Birthday Surprise**

"You're going to get a big surprise from us for your birthday." Sirius said cheekily at breakfast on the Monday when they were back to Hogwarts.

"What do you mean??" James asked quizzically.

"We just derived this brilliant plan for you."

"I got the feeling this is a kind of sabotage."

"How accurate are your gut feelings anyway??"

"I think they're pretty accurate."

"The last time you said that you got a feeling I pee-ed on your face when you're sleeping, but in the end I didn't."

"That's because I know you had that in mind so I said it before you had a chance to even do it."

"May I ask when did this incident happen??" Peter asked the talking duo.

"On our Prongsie ninth birthday."

"No wonder I've no recollection of that as well." Remus said, shaking his head, laughing at the thought.

"That's like ages ago and I forgot all about it until you just so kindly reminded me."

"Well, you inspired me to do it for real this time."

"Don't you dare!!"

"You doubt my guts??"

"Padfoot!! We already outgrew the age where we compete who pee further."

"Have we??"

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"Glad to know that Bell is doing fine." Joey commented. The four girls were heading to the Great Hall for their breakfast together, updating each other about their happenings in the Christmas break.

"I know, but we can't help missing her." Samantha added.

"I wonder if there would be a new girl coming into Gryffindor next year or something." Lily asked no one in particular.

"Might not. So far we hasn't come across any transfer students. Besides there are only four guys in our year as well." Stefanie reasoned.

"Well, the four guys can replace all the rest of the male population." Lily said in a sarcastic but joking manner.

"Yeah, one James replaces the whole Marauders you mean."

"You know I don't mean that."

"We know what you mean."

"Oei!!"

"Did someone mention _Marauders_??" A familiar deep voice called from their right side.

"I did." Stefanie smiled at the source of the voice and took a seat beside him. The rest of the three girls joined them.

"I thought I heard someone mentioning _James_." Sirius added extra emphasis on the name. "But then I might have heard wrongly." He was grinning from ear to ear, looking from James to Lily and back to James again.

"Haha, very funny." James said sarcastically. "Since you're not eating your food, I'm going to help myself." James took Sirius' entire plate of toast and egg in front of him and started eating.

"Hey!!" Sirius took the plate back; leaving only the toast that James was already finishing half of it.

"Guys and girls, you aren't kids anymore, so please stop fighting for food." Remus mocked.

"We're not fighting for food." James and Sirius said at the same time.

"For a moment, I forgot that the guys are girls as well." Stefanie added. The whole group of eight teens started laughing at their joke, making them the noisiest people in the Great Hall for breakfast.

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"So that's our plan for the coming Saturday."

"Are you sure that's feasible??"

"Definitely. You've gotta trust me for this."

"The problem why we can't trust because you're the instigator."

"Hey, admit it, this gotta be Jamesie' best birthday present ever."

"What would Lily say??"

"She would be euphoric."

"I doubt she would be that ecstatic."

"But shouldn't she be informed about that as well??"

"Then we would lose all the fun in this surprise."

"It seems like she's a victim as well."

"Trust me."

"Sirius, the more you ask me to trust you the more I can't."

"Well, you gotta learn to."

"So what's the plan now??"

"As per normal. We've our role for that day."

"So Stef would need help from Sam and Jo if really necessary."

"But I believe Lils would fall for it without much of a problem."

"Seriously, this idea is a little absurd."

"I think it's fabulous."

"That's why we've different minds."

"So let's not argue about it anymore. Take it as settle."

"Last discussion Friday night."

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"I found new place yesterday night. Just wondering if you're interested to take a look at it." Sirius said in a I-know-something-you-don't-know voice.

"Where??"

"Upstairs."

"Hasn't we already explored every nook and cranny of this castle??" James asked skeptically.

"Not fully. No one ever knows every corner of it. Besides it was like a tunnel that lead from one place to another."

"How about we wait for Moony and Wormtail to be back then we go take a look together??"

"I'm so exhilarated to find the place and you're ruining my joy about it."

"What so special about that tunnel or whatsoever place anyway??"

"It's enclosed."

"So??"

"It has something special."

"What??"

"A mirror."

"Haha, that's very funny." James said sarcastically and turned back to his homework.

"It's a special mirror."

"Like what so special. Is it _full-length_??"

"Yes, it's big and _full-length_."

"Oh, no wonder it's just so _special_."

"There's more than that."

"Like what??"

"You see your deepest desires inside." Sirius said breezily, knowing something like this would capture James' attention instantly.

"What do you mean??" James turned over and studied Sirius for the first time since their conversation began.

"Haha, I'm not gonna tell you." Sirius said dramatically. "I thought I wanted to share it with my best friend first." He turned around and pretended to leave their dormitory.

"Let's go and take a look." James stopped his homework instantly and followed Sirius out of the dormitory.

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"Guess what I just saw!!" Stefanie said excitedly as she literally bounced into their dormitory. Lily was the only one inside since Samantha and Joey had gone to the library, which made things even easier for Stefanie.

"What??" Lily looked at Stefanie with deep interest.

"I saw a mirror!!" Stefanie said in an unusual enthusiasm.

"Did I hear you say mirror??" Lily asked in amusement.

"Yes. I did say I saw a mirror."

"Er.. what so special about the mirror??"

"It can show our deepest desire."

"The Mirror of Erised??"

"That's the one!!"

"Where??"

"C'mon, I show you." Stefanie said and left the dormitory. Lily followed along immediately.

"How did you find it??"

"Remus brought me to see it."

"Wow, the guys found something as exciting as that."

"That's why I'm so excited."

"So what's your deepest desire??"

"I tell you tonight when you tell me yours."

"Why tonight?? Aren't we going together??"

"Of course we are. But I don't want to talk about my deepest desire at a place where others might eavesdrop or something."

"You've got a point." Lily and Stefanie were walking briskly and Lily barely had much idea which direction Stefanie was leading her to.

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"Padfoot, what's this place??" James was saying when the door behind him went shut. "Let me out!!" He called out.

"This is our birthday present for you." Sirius called out. He could hear Remus and Peter laughing outside as well. "Enjoy yourself."

"Alohomora." James muttered, pointing his finger at the door but the door would not bulge. "Damn. They must have used that stupid charm which I've no clue how to break." Just two years ago, the Marauders were locked in an enclosed room with the four exchange students whom started off with enemy and ended up being long distance friends. _How could I be so stupid to trust Sirius!!_

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"Stef, as I was saying, where are you taking me to??" Lily asked Stefanie who was beside her but not anymore. She could hear the door behind her closed and seemed like a charm had made the door into the wall. The door had disappeared. "Stef?? Let me out!!" A sudden rush of panic ran through her spine.

_What's this place??_ Lily knew there was no way she could get out from the way she came in. Stefanie had used a charm, which Lily had yet to memorize to lock her in. _Great!! In that moment of hurry, I even forgot my wand. What sort of witch am I to travel around without a wand??_

The room was dimly lit with a few candles and chandeliers high above. There was only one path in front and since it was not possible to leave, she decided to move forward. Tiptoeing forward silently, she moved along the wall, avoiding the possibility of someone noticing her shadow.

_Is there really the Mirror of Erised here?? Stef wouldn't lie to me, or would she??_ After what felt like a long walk, she reached a regular looking room, which seemed slightly smaller than their normal classroom.

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_What on earth is Sirius doing?? _James walked along the twining tunnel and ended up in a normal looking room. _One of the smaller classrooms around._ In the middle of the room stood a large rectangular object. _Could that be the Mirror that Sirius was talking about?? _James walked closer and noticed a shadow cast behind the mirror. _Someone else is here. _Being armed with the wandless magic ability, he prepared himself to fight whoever that was behind the mirror.

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"Oh my god!!" _This mirror is so magnificent._ Lily touched the mirror's edges with her fingers. In the mirror, she saw herself standing there alone, her exact reflection. _So what's my deepest desire??_ _It isn't showing._ Slowly other images formed. _James??_ She saw James holding onto her waist from her back in her reflection, both of them were smiling blissfully back at her. With normal reflex, she turned back to confirm that James was not behind her. _My deepest desire is to be with James?? This is something I don't even know._ In her reflection, she saw herself and James smiling in total bliss disappearing and another figure appeared. _A little boy. Harry??_ A young boy who looked like the younger version of James appeared between them, holding onto their hand. The small family in the reflection seemed so fairytale like, right till the idyllic backdrop and contented smiles. _Is that really what I truly want??_

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"Lily??" James walked forward, and to his surprised, the least likely person he expected was standing there.

"Huh??" Lily looked at James with a blurred look.

"What happened to you??" James asked with concern.

"Nothing." Lily felt her face a little flush and looked away from James quickly.

"So this is the Mirror." James looked at his reflection in the mirror.

"This is the Mirror of Erised."

"Mirror of Erised??"

"A mirror that will show your deepest desires. Only the truly happy and contented person can see their own reflection."

"So what did you see??"

"Nothing much." Lily looked at the mirror again. The three figure were still standing inside, smiling back at her, except this time James was carrying Harry with one arm and the other holding onto Lily's hand. She looked away quickly again. "What did you see??"

"Myself." James answered instantly. But slowly, his reflection disappeared and another figure surfaced from inside of the mirror. _Lily is in the mirror?? _He blinked his eyes a little. _Obviously she's inside the mirror. The mirror is that huge and she's right beside me._

James studied the figures, which were emerging out of nowhere. _I'm holding onto Lily's hand. _A reflection of him holding onto Lily's hand appeared, both of them looked so blissfully happy in the reflection. He turned to see Lily totally engrossed watching the mirror. _I wonder if she's seeing the same thing as I'm._ He thought to himself. The image of James and Lily holding hands and strolling together disappeared and a third figure appeared. _He looked exactly like me. Harry._ James was shocked to see the scene in front of him. _I'm hugging Lily, her body close to mine. My head is resting on her shoulder. It's something that won't happen but I know I want that to happen. Harry was running around happily in front of them and they were looking at their son with such fondness and love. _James took a quick glimpse at Lily who was still occupied by the images she was watching in the mirror. _Wonder what is she watching to keep her so deeply concentrated in the mirror??_

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_How could we look so happy together?? We won't even live long enough to watch our son grow. _The image of James and herself walking along the beach and their son running in front of them was captivating in the sense that it was sweet and romantic but sad to say, would never happen. _Maybe this is the life I really want. To spend the rest of my life with him and our son. If only I'm given the chance to do so. I don't think I would even live long enough to see all these. _A bitter sadness swept through her spine and brought her back to the harsh reality.

"So what did you see?? You are so wrapped up by it." James asked casually, trying to keep the conversation light-hearted.

"I – I saw you." Lily looked into the mirror and saw the fairytale scenario inside continue to move.

"I saw you too." James looked into the mirror as he answered.

"And Harry."

"Same."

"So this mirror really shows our desires??"

"I guess so." Both of them went silence for some time as they continued watching the images inside the mirror.


	82. Birthday Boy

**Chapter 81: Birthday Boy**

"Tell me what happened!!" Stefanie jumped up excitedly the moment Lily stepped into the girls' dormitory that evening.

"Yeah, thank you so much for locking me up with James for the entire day." Lily replied sarcastically.

"So what happened??" Stefanie begged again.

"Nothing."

"Nothing??"

"Ya, nothing."

"Oh c'mon, something must have happened."

"Yeah, I see the mirror. That's something."

"So what did you see in the mirror??"

"You tell me what did you see in the mirror first."

"I saw myself and Remus together forever." Stefanie said in a low voice.

"Oh."

"I know that will never happen. But nevertheless it was nice just to take a glimpse of it."

"I saw myself and James – and Harry."

"I knew that's what you would see."

"Yaya, you're going to claim that you know me so well."

"Don't I??"

"Oh well."

"So what did you and James and Harry do in the image??"

"Nothing exactly. A lot of walking together. And definitely look very happy and Voldemort free." Lily sat on her bed and tried to reminisce the whole image into her mind. "I believe I would have a dream tonight. Seen a lot of impossibilities today. It's like watching a movie."

"Then what did James see??"

"Same characters as I did."

"And??"

"And we just talked for the rest of the day. For hours we just sat in front of the mirror and watch."

"Don't get addicted to what you see."

"I know, at least I get to see it once."

"So what did James say or something??"

"He seemed like he was at loss of words after watching whatever he saw."

"It must be amazing. Even one of the most eloquent guys on earth can lose his gift of speech."

"It felt wonderful to watch. But sad to say I believe whatever that is shown inside would never happen. For one, I'm sure we won't be able to see Harry growing up."

"Maternal instincts huh."

"No, just a passing remark."

"So besides watching and talking, what else did the two of you do inside?? I mean you two were in there for about six hours, I don't think there's nothing you two did inside."

"One more thing we did."

"What??"

"We tried to open the door."

"Fine, you aren't telling the juicy parts."

"There are no juicy parts to start with."

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"You two didn't do anything?!?" Sirius exclaimed. James had returned to their dormitory not too long ago and Sirius had bugged him first thing on what happened when they were locked up together.

"How many times must I tell you all we did were watching the mirror and chatting and forcing the door open??"

"Countless times." Remus pointed out.

"And you call yourself a man?? Locked up with such a gorgeous girl in such a secluded and private area and all you did was _that_??"

"By the way, I'm actually more gentlemanly than you. If you're inside with Bell, or any other girl, I just wonder what might happen."

"At least I wouldn't leave unless I get a good kiss or something."

"No point in doing so. I don't really want to lose her as a friend."

"Don't you want her to be your _girlfriend_??"

"I want and that's why I'm not rushing into things."

"Since when does our Prongsie know how to think??"

"Since I'm born with a proper brain unlike our Padfoot here."

"I'm born with an intelligent brain and that's why I could come up with the ingenious plan of locking you two up together in the room with a mirror."

"For one, the mirror had a name which is called Mirror of Erised. For two, I don't think it was an ingenious plan, it felt more like the victim of a prank."

"So Lily taught you something while you two were locked in."

"To some extent, yes. And there's the name engraved on it as well. Erised is the opposite of desire in case you hasn't noticed."

"Prongsie know me the best. I didn't notice that."

"Yeah, just to correct you, the mirror has a name."

"Thank you so much for teaching me something new today." Sirius said in a dramatically grateful sounding tune.

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"Thank you so much!!" James said politely to a group of second-year Ravenclaws who had come forward to give him a big bouquet of lilies.

"You're welcome!!" They said quickly and left the Marauders blushing very furiously.

"Prongsie, this is only the first hour of your birthday you spent out of the dormitory and your presents already piled up higher than us." Remus commented. The four of them were having their breakfast in the Great Hall and today was James' seventeenth birthday.

"Moony, don't you deny if the same girls didn't do that for you."

"Well, we shall see, since your birthday is coming up next month."

"I believe I'll be of no fight with James."

"Not necessary."

"So I think we would need to bring these stuffs up to our dorm before we head for our first lesson."

"What do you mean by 'we'?? Sirius asked.

"Don't expect me to carry all these by myself."

"I had expected you to do that."

"Who helped you to carry the life-size statue of you up to the dormitory when one of your admirers gave that to you during breakfast last year??"

"You all did."

"Then??"

"I was thinking you might ask Lily to help you."

"Too humiliating to be caught carrying flowers right??"

"I've my fair share of flowers, so why would I??"

"Then??"

"The main thing is we want to let you have some quality time with Lily."

"Thanks but no thanks. Let nature takes it course."

"Prongs, I'm with you for this." Remus took up some of James' present which ranged from ornamental snitches to bouquets of flowers. "We can bring all these up first."

"You can use magic, you know??" Peter suggested.

"Yeah, but it's not very nice to let other see their birthday presents for me flying back into my room without me around."

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"I'm well aware that it's Mr. Potter's birthday today." Professor McGonagall said in her no-nonsense voice during their Transfiguration lesson. "But that's no excuse for not doing your homework or ending lesson early." Some enthusiastic junior students had caught up with the Marauders on their way to Transfiguration lesson and flooded him with heaps of wrapped up boxes and flowers, leaving him with no choice but to bring all of them to the lesson with him.

"M– Professor, you can't blame me. I didn't ask for the presents, and of course not before your lesson. But I just can't help it." James' voice could be heard somewhere behind the pile.

"So would you mind putting them away so that I can see the faces of the four of you and not the heaps of boxes and flowers on the table??"

"It wouldn't be nice to put all these on the floor. I don't really want to dirty them as well." James' voice could be heard beyond the presents and laughter from the other three Marauders were rather distinctive as well.

"Since that's the case, we shall continue with the lesson." Professor McGonagall said with her back facing the class. "Please ensure your desk is clear from obstacles before you start."

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"It's so difficult to catch you guys for the whole day." Lily told the four Marauders. It was dinnertime and the Marauders, for the first time today, were alone at the Gryffindor table.

"We can't help being popular." Sirius joked.

"So what's up??" James asked.

"We haven't even given you our present." Stefanie explained, holding a package wrapped in silver wrapper in her hand.

"Thanks." James stood up and accepted the gift.

"Happy birthday!!" Stefanie gave James a hug.

"Thanks."

"Happy seventeenth birthday!!" Lily gave James a quick hug.

"Thanks."

"This is from the five of us." Lily explained. Samantha and Joey gave James a quick birthday bear hug as well.

"What is it??" Finally the eight teens settled down waiting for the dinner to appear.

"Open and you'll know."

"Hmm.." James unwrapped the rectangular box quickly.

"Be more gentle!!" Stefanie commented.

"Ok." His movement slowed down upon the comment. "Er.." He opened the box and caught sight of something that stunned him for a moment. "A boxer??"

"Yes, a pair of personalized boxers." Lily said and burst into laughter along with the rest.

"You're kidding right??" James asked skeptically, holding up a pair of black boxers with a big 'Potter' word in silver letters at the back.

"What do you think??"

"The four of you can't possibly give me this for my birthday."

"Well." Stefanie tried to stop laughing for a moment because James' expression was too funny not to be laughed at. "There's another present inside." And she continued laughing, along with the three other girls.

James took up the paper, which separated the bottom layer from the boxers on top and fished out a dark green colored windbreaker with a white embroidered word 'James'.

"A windbreaker??"

"It's not just a normal windbreaker."

"Then??"

"It can protect you from wind and rain and snow and-" Sirius was listing out the functions of a normal windbreaker.

"The special thing is that this windbreaker matches perfectly well with this new pair of boxers."

"Boxers jokes do get boring after a while." Peter commented.

"I guess the only special thing about this windbreaker that when the weather is hot, it will keep you cool and vice versa." Lily told him.

"Wear it and try." Joey suggested. James put on the windbreaker, which fitted his body really well.

"But in the castle it's ususually the right temperature." Remus said. "He can only wear it when he's outside."

"I believe once he wear it he'll keep wearing it." Stefanie said, smiling.

"Is it supposed to be addictive or glued to your body??" James' gave a little frown.

"Nope, it's too comfortable, that's why." Lily said knowingly.

"We charmed this normal looking windbreaker into something totally unique."

"I must agree that it's really comfortable."

"Does the boxers have the same effect as well??" Sirius asked cheekily.

"Unfortunately no."

"It's just a normal boxers except that there's a word."

"Thanks girls." James pulled the front of the windbreaker together and zipped it up. "It's really comfortable and I love it."

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"For goodness sake, you've been wearing it nearly twenty four hours a day for the whole week." Remus commented as James put on his windbreaker again after his bathe.

"Because it's really comfortable to wear."

"Then let us try."

"What if you don't take it off??"

"We will."

"No."

"Just because it's a present from Lily."

"It's from all of them."

"We don't see you giving a second look to the other presents." In the corner of the boys' dormitory where James' bed stood, there was a pile of presents. Though all of them were opened, they were chunked aside. With the exception of the flowers, which had already wilted and discarded, the other presents had never seen the day for the second time.

"I don't like them. And besides I don't know who gave them to me even."

"But you can wear those shirts and use those stationary as well."

"I don't want anything from a dubious background. Who knows they might be charmed or cursed or poisoned?? You know how insane those girls are."

"Don't be so paranoid." Sirius laughed at James. "You're like James the Great, who dare to _poison_ you??"

"It's difficult to say, you know." Remus commented.

"Have you forgot that the girls' had poisoned us more than once??" James reminded.


	83. Boring Life

**Chapter 82: Boring Life**

"Don't you find that life is just so boring??" Peter asked the other Marauders. It was just another of those Monday evenings after dinner.

"Life is never boring with Sirius around." Sirius declared.

"Wormtail, this is one thing you gotta admit that it's true." Remus laughed.

"Moony understand me the best." Sirius grinned and started doing handstand by the wall.

"Are you trying a new stunt in using the quill??" James joked as he looked up from his Herbology homework.

"That's a great idea. Let me try something." Sirius accioed his quill and parchment over with his left hand holding his wand and his right hand supporting his body weigh by the wall.

"Why not we compete to see who can stand with their hands the longest??" James suggested. "By the wall, of course."

"I will definitely lose." Peter said grumpily.

"Wormtail, you gotta try it then you know." James said comfortingly.

"Besides we've got decent muscles around with all those exercise we've been doing."

"Loser fetch dinner from kitchen for all of us."

"Didn't we just have our dinner??"

"Did we??"

"SIRIUS!!"  
  


"Oh ya, we did. Make it supper then."

"That's better."

"Let's start in the count of three."

"Wait, warm up first." The Marauders stretched their arms and legs a little with some light warm up exercises, which they usually do before their quidditch practice.

"Three."

"Two."

"One."

"Up." With a flip, the four Marauders were leaning against the wall supporting with only their palms.

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"When shall we have our next shopping trip??" Samantha asked her roommates.

"How about this weekend??"

"Another typical Hogsmeade weekend."

"That's like the furthest place we can hit during the school year."

"Shall we explore somewhere further??"  
  


"What are you suggesting??"

"Like going beyond the village??"

"To the trees??"

"Or the lake??"

"I don't mean that."

"Then??"  
  


"There might be another village around or something??"

"Then it wouldn't be one of those magical community."

"Muggle life isn't all that bad."

"That's true."

"So shall we go exploring??"

"In fact, I rather not."

"Why??"

"Not that I'm being paranoid of goody-two-shoes, but curiosity do kills the cat."

"Cats have nine lives."

"What if they already used up eight of them??" 

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"Why isn't anyone giving up??"

"Because we never say die."

"My balls are intolerably itchy."

"Then you give up and go fetch supper for us."

"No way."

"Padfoot, give up."

"Prongs, I'll never lose to you."

"Wormtail, you still ok??"

"Not – much problem."

"Did someone timed how long have we been in this position??"

"I did."

"How long??"  
  


"About forty-five minutes so far."

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"Not going anywhere with Remus today??" Lily asked Stefanie. The two girls decided that they need a breathe of fresh air away from the stale dormitory after two hours of homework.

"Where can we go anyway??"

"Like the shack??"  
  


"What??"  
  


"Don't think I don't know."

"So what do you know??"

"Everytime you said you two gonna study in the library, the truth was you two went snogging in the shack."

"That's not true."

"Two weeks ago you left me in the dorm and said you went to the library with Remus, in the end when I went to look for you in the library, you two were nowhere to be found."

"Well."

"Well, of course I went to ask the guys where Remus was. They were totally honest with one another."

"Alright, we _did_ go to the library. Then we went out for a short break."

"Two hours isn't exactly short."

"You timed??"

"I estimated."

"I see."

"So where's Remus tonight??"

"No idea."

"He's you boyfriend and you don't know where he is??"

"I supposed the guys are together in their dorm."

"Pay them a visit??"

"Is that an excuse to go and peek at James??"

"I don't _peek_ at James."

"Alright, _look_ at James."

"You _look_ at James too."

"Whatever you say." Stefanie waved her hands to stop Lily from defending herself. "Let's go to the guys' dorm."

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"What are you guys doing??" Lily asked the moment they stepped into the sixth-year boys' dormitory.

"H-handstand." James said, looking at the inverted Lily and Stefanie at the doorway.

"We noticed. But what for??" Stefanie bent down to look at Remus.

"Challenging one another." Remus replied with some difficulty.

"So you guys are challenging see who falls off first??" Lily winked at Stefanie.

"Don't try anything." James warned Lily.

"What can we do anyway??" Lily replied innocently, smiling. Stefanie returned a look of understanding.

"We're just going to sit here and watch you guys." Stefanie laughed.

"That simple??" Sirius questioned.

"Of course-" Stefanie replied with a pause. "Not!!" The two girls chorused.

"No!! No!! No!!"

"Yes!!" The two girls grabbed a quill each and started tickling the guys' faces.

"Ahh!!"

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_Let's walk deeper into the forest. _Sirius, the black dog raised his right foot and pointed at a dark and gloomy path somewhere in the midst of the Forbidden Forest. It was another full moon day where Remus had transformed into a werewolf.

_This place seems so infinite. I thought we had covered every nook and cranny inside. _James moved forward in his four long legs, trotting slowly and carefully.

Peter scurried in between James and Sirius in fear of something might jump out from nowhere. Every month, they would explore new areas, made new discoveries, and this month, it was no exception.

_There!!_ Remus, in his werewolf form, ushered the rest of the animagi to turn left. _Something is not right._

_This place seems so familiar. _James ambled around the empty plot of land wondering when he had been here before.

_Sound. People. _Sirius stopped in his track and quickly signaled to the other three Marauders to run into hiding. Swiftly and quietly, they hid themselves behind some bushes and tree trunks. Sirius pushed Remus to the ground and pinned him down and at the same time keeping watch at what was going to happen.

"Why did Master always hold his meetings in the middle of the night in the middle of the forest??"

"So that no one else would see him??"

"Why didn't I think of that??"

"Because you're too stupid."  
  


"How dare you scold me stupid??"

"Aren't you?? This is pure commonsense."

"I have commonsense, mind you."

"I wonder how did Master get you to be one of his Deatheaters."

"Because I'm capable."

"Yeah right."

"Sshhh."

_Deatheaters. _James watched the black cloaked figured appearing one after another from the different parts of the forest.

_Deatheaters meeting. _Remus looked at the massive gathering of black figures. The werewolf part of him wanted to jump up onto the Deatheaters out there, but the small humane part of him knew that would be very wrong to do something like that.

_Should I go out and join the rest?? Or should I stay??_ Peter looked around in a dilemma. _Master had not asked me to attend this meeting. Did he know that I would be here to listen as well??_

_This is really no good. The population is so big!! _Sirius looked with his eyes wide open, hardly believing himself that there were actually so many Deatheaters around gathered together under the nose of Dumbledore.

"Welcome, once again!!" An elevated black-cloaked figure called out in the midst of the group.

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"We need to tell Dumbledore immediately!!" James stood up, bringing his point clear to the rest.

"But that would bring us into trouble." Peter squeaked.

"What happened in the forest would bring the whole magical community into trouble." Sirius said sensibly. "I'm with Prongs for this."

"Moony, what do you think??"

"Wormtail is right about that. I really don't want to cause you any trouble. It's all because of me that is why you guys are illegal animagus. And we had explored the forbidden grounds." Remus said tiredly. It was dawn and Remus and transformed back to Remus, the Homo sapiens.

"We don't care about getting in trouble or not. What happened last night was big trouble to everyone out there!!" James insisted.

"I say we should tell Dumbledore the truth. He needs to know." Sirius pointed out. "We probably get some detentions or whatsoever for exploring forbidden areas."

"Being illegal animagi is far beyond school rules. It concerned imprisonment in Azkaban. And getting into trouble with the Ministry is not very pleasant especially since your parents were directly involve in the Ministry."

"We tell Dumbledore, but not the Ministry. I'm sure Dumbledore can solve this problem without leaking the fact that we're animagi." James said confidently.

"Let's hope so." The totally worn-out Remus replied.

"Let's get back to our dorm before anyone notice that we went missing."

"Then when are we going to tell Dumbledore??"

"After Pomfrey fetched Remus to the hospital wing."

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"Where are the guys??" Lily asked Stefanie as they ate their breakfast silently. It was another of those typical Wednesday and most students were suffering from mid-week blues.

"Last night was full moon." Stefanie reminded Lily in a low voice.

"Oh."

"Let's drop by the Hospital Wing before our first class." Stefanie suggested. They were one of the few early birds who were in the Great Hall for breakfast.

"Sure."

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"Professor, there's something we need to tell you about." James' admitted. The two guys had headed down to Dumbledore's office after their short nap in their dormitory.

"What is it regarding??" Dumbledore raised his brows in surprise.

"This had happened last night." Sirius started.


	84. Unbelievable

**Chapter 83: Unbelievable**

"Oh my god!!" Stefanie exclaimed. James, Sirius and Remus had gathered Lily and Stefanie up to the Room of Requirement for some serious discussion.

"What did Dumbledore say??" Lily asked.

"I think we need to come up with a plan soon. Practically the whole Slytherin are Deatheaters." James said determinedly; his right fist pounded on the armrest of the sofa.

"But what can we do??" Stefanie asked.

"They can't hurt us since we've this to protect us." Lily held out her pendant.

"It's true. But Voldemort did not know that we knew about it."

"If we rush into this without careful planning, the consequences might be unbearable."

"But we can't sit here and do nothing when people out in the world are suffering and we're the only people on earth that could stop him."

"I'm not saying that we're not going to do anything, but we need to be careful."

"Does that mean we need to sneak out into the forest again to eavesdrop??"

"Sirius and I can do it actually." James said to assure Remus. "It's not that we want to do it without you, it's just that-"

"I understand perfectly. We can't just leave Peter alone in the dorm anyway."

"Moony, you're the best."

"So how do you know when would be their next meeting??"

"I reckon that it would be on Friday night."

"Why??"

"Because the last time it had happened on a Friday night."

"Besides we explored the forest so many times, and this was the first time we came across that."

"Ok, so this coming Friday, James and Sirius would sneak into the forest again."

"Does that mean that Dumbledore already knew your secret??"

"Yes. He promised to keep it to himself."

"But if anything-"

"Stef, don't worry. Nothing's gonna happen."__

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"A Valentine's Day Party??" Eric Macmillian repeated. Lauren Lovegood and Daniel Thomas had just informed them about a sudden upcoming party which the prefects would organize.

"Why the sudden??" James asked.

"Every year we need to organize a school event." Daniel explained. "Initially we were thinking of Halloween Ball, but too many things had happened along the way, so the idea was abandon."

"Then we thought of having a Christmas Ball, but you know, things happened."

"We thought that we're not going to have any big event going on until Dumbledore suggested to us that we should lighten things up a little."

"But V-day is like two weeks from now??"

"We're going to have in the weekend after V-day, which gives us slightly more than two weeks time."

"It would be a simple event, nothing too fanciful or whatsoever."

"Just some music and food. Get everyone's mind out of the reality."

"Even if it's for only one night, it's better than nothing."

"Well, I supposed there shouldn't be much problem at all since the house elves are going to prepare the food."

"We can re-use those songs from the last party."

"Deco-wise can be done during Saturday afternoon, it's a Hogsmeade weekend anyway. So most students would be out."

"Every student would be able to attend, not specially for fourth-year and above or something."

"So it would be something really impromptu, preparing starts the night before."

"So next meeting, two weeks from now, on the Friday." 

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_There seems to be an evil aura somewhere._ James shuttered at the thought as Sirius and him walked briskly along the Hogwarts corridors towards the entrance, which led them towards the Forbidden Forest.

_Hagrid is still up._ There was a faint candle glow emitting from Hagrid's hut not too far away from them. They were walked in synchronized silence throughout their journey from the Gryffindor tower all the way until the passed Hagrid's hut towards the edge of the forest.

"Here." James dug a hole in the ground not too far from the hut and buried James' precious Invisibility Cloak. Together they ran into the forest, transforming as they ran.

_That way. _Sirius the dog sniffed around and headed towards the center of the forest. James followed closely behind, checking the coast and studying the surrounding forest, which they had explored so many times, but yet still so foreign.

_There we are. _James and Sirius stopped as they had reached the place where they had witnessed the Deatheaters' meeting the last time. It was deafeningly silent and strangely peaceful, for a place so full of evil.

The two animagi sat down behind another bush and waited impatiently for the arrival of their expected figures.

It was not a long wait since they had estimated the timing quite accurately. Watching the familiar scene of Deatheaters gathered from all directions once again, they remained vigilant and careful.

"We meet again." The dark cloaked figured who believed to be Voldemort himself said in a deep raspy voice. "But today we've two guests joining us." There was a murmur along the Deatheaters suddenly.

_This is no good. Was he referring to us?? _James thought with a frown.

_Who are the two guests??_ Sirius thought to himself and gave a sideward glance at James.

"Silent!!" He commanded. "Turn to your back and get the two eavesdroppers out here."

_RUN!! _James signaled to Sirius and immediately ran away from the pursuers as fast as possible. Being fast four-legged animals, they had outrun the Deatheaters without much problem but they were still hot on pursuit with misaimed hexes flying passed them.

_I don't like this. I really don't. _Sirius thought as he dashed as quickly as possible. In human form, he was a fast runner. In his dog form, he ran even faster.

Finally the two animagi dashed out of the forest, they transformed back into their human form as they reached the main entrance of Hogwarts.

"Dumbledore's office." James shouted.

"I'm already here." A sense of urgency could be heard from the familiar voice.

"Professor, they're out there." Sirius exclaimed.

"Let's go." Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall, along with Professor Plains headed towards the forest armed with wand in hand.

"Let's go." Remus' voice could be heard from nearby.

"Remus??"

"No time for explanation." Remus replied quickly as the threesome dashed after Dumbledore and their lecturers. James and Sirius followed instantly, catching up with the rest.

"L-Lils, why are you g-guys out here??" James asked as the five teens slowed their pace, just slightly behind their three beloved professors.

"We wanted to be here to help. Dumbledore gave us the permission actually." Lily explained, keeping a watchful eye at the edge of the forest. Even Hagrid was out, standing next to Dumbledore, looking humongous as always.

"Why aren't there any movements??" Stefanie asked in a low voice. Apparently even Dumbledore was clearly surprised at the lack of movement.

"What happened??" Sirius asked. "They were chasing us all the way."

"They must have known about the plan somehow." Dumbledore explained with a frown. "The evil aura had disappeared, clearing as time passes."

"It's not possible that anyone would know about this." James pointed out. "We didn't even tell Peter and we discussed that in private."

"Let's go in and take a look. There might still be some Deatheaters around." Sirius suggested.

"I don't think so." Professor Plains said knowingly. "It's all clear."

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"Still complained that you won't get as much presents as me." James teased Remus as the Marauders were carrying Remus' birthday presents up to the dormitory during their lunch hour.

"I didn't complain, okay??" Remus pointed out. "It was Sirius."

"It wasn't me!!"

"Sirius birthday is just a few months away."

"Are you thinking of what I'm thinking, Prongs??"

"I think I am, Moony." The two guys exchanged a wink purposely in front of Sirius.

"What??"

"Nothing."

"Tell me."  
  


"Oei!! Don't drop my presents." Remus elbowed Sirius' hand.

"Don't worry, I won't."

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"So tomorrow we shall gather at the Great Hall after lunch." Daniel, who was the Head Boy for the year, commented. "I believe we all have enough of Hogsmeade to sacrifice an afternoon without it." The group of prefects laughed at his little joke.

"So that's the end of the meeting, see you guys tomorrow." Lauren added. The group of students departed from the classroom and went on separate ways back to their respective towers.

"Are you guys looking forward for the party??" Penelope asked. The six Gryffindor prefects were returning to the Gryffindor tower together.

"It's like nothing special." Lily said frankly.

"It's not like last year where everyone was in the mood."

"That's my sentiments exactly."

"Besides it's so last minute."

"Don't think people would expect much of it anyway."

"Well, just do what we can do to improve the situation will do."

"True. I mean there's like nothing much we can do to start with."

The group walked and chatted animatedly until they reached the Gryffindor tower where the girls and boys went up the separate staircase to their respective dormitories.

An exchange of quick 'good nights' could be heard in the empty common room since it's nearly midnight and most of the students were already back in their rooms.

"Where did you go to make out with Lily??" Sirius asked James as he stepped into their personalized dormitory.

"Ahem, I happen to be with Lily in a classroom where there were distinctively more than twenty students."

"Oh merlin, our dear little Prongsie had grown up." Sirius exclaimed, looking up from the magazine he was reading. "Mass orgy in Hogwarts. That gonna hit the Headlines for tomorrow breakfast."

"Moony, someone ought to be sent to Azkaban earlier."

"I agree with you for that."

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"So let's party to our hearts content tonight and forget about all the homework that we had!!" Daniel, the Head Boy as well as the emcee for the evening, announced and music started booming from all directions. The four house tables and benches disappeared; light dimmed and the party ambience sprouted out from nowhere.

"Great song huh!!" Lily raised her voice as she came over to join the rest of the gang along with James after the commencement of the evening. Loud music of Always Come Back To Your Love blasted and filled up the whole hall.

"I chose that, of course." James boasted jokingly.

"Where's Sirius??"

"That's a surprise."

"What surprise??"

"A surprise is a surprise."

"Well said!!"

"Thank you!!"

"Oh, c'mon."

"Nah. Let's dance." The four continued to dance as the songs blasted one after another. Peter was away, for some reason or other and Sirius was missing in action for three whole songs as well.

"Excuse me, ladies and gentleman." James said as he disappeared before Remus could catch up with him and ask any question.

"What's going on??" Lily shouted.

"I have no clue, really." Remus gave a shrug.

"Seems suspicious huh." Stefanie commented, eyeing Lily.

"What??" Lily asked quizzically.

"Nothing, just dance." Remus changed the topic. Lily felt a little bit out of place because she felt like she was a light bulb with Remus and Stefanie.

The song ended, hall was dimmed, and a soothing tune started playing. The student population stopped dancing and turned to look at the stage.

"Ni wei xiao de yan, wo kan dao wu shu qing tian. Wen ni de lian de na yi tian, yong you quan shi jie."

"What language is that??"

"Sounds like mandarin."

"Wei lai shi yi ge yuan quan, zai ni wo wu ming zi zhi jian. Wei wo men nuo yan lai jia mian, wan mei de ju dian."

"Who's singing that??"

"No idea."

"Yao ba ni yong jing wo wai tao de li mian wei ni dang feng xue."

"There isn't any Asians in Hogwarts ever since the exchange students."

"When are they going to turn on the lights??"

"Rang ni kao zai wo de jian, fen xiang mei yi ge ming tian."

The candles started lighting up one by one, brightening the dark hall gradually. Fanatic screams could be heard from some female students around the hall.

"qian ni de shou qu gan jue yan huo zui mi ren de ji jie. Zhao liang xing fu de shun jian hao rang wo men kan de gan yuan. Qian ni de shou qu gan jue yan huo zhui mi ren de ji jie. Dian liang shen ming de yi qie, zan fang wo men de xi yuan, zai ai ni de mei tian." The four guys on the stage sang in perfect synchrony.

"AHHH!!"

"They are back!!"

"Not again!?!"


	85. Short Reunion

**Chapter 84: Short Reunion**

"What brings you guys all the way here??" Remus asked their four prankster friends who lived at the other half of the globe. The ten teens gathered together outside by the lake, away from the rest of the student population to do some catching up.

"James' invitation." Shannon replied. "He said that Hogwarts need something to brighten up today's party."

"And I suggested to invite you guys." Sirius added. "Everyone can still remember you all so vividly."

"Yeah, we're the Hogwarts legend."

"No way, we're going to be the legendary pranksters of Hogwarts."

"Well, you guys are going to be _legendary_ characters, no worries that they won't remember your presence."

"I'm so flattered."

"We can't leave without leaving an impressive impression."

"By the way I don't think anyone uses this sort of alliteration, like impressive impression, very often."

"Alright, my English language isn't that fantastic."

"We noticed."

"Haha, very funny."

"By the way, what song was that??"

"It's yan huo de ji jie, which meant the season of fireworks."

"The tune sounds pretty great."

"A popular song back there."

"I believe the song is rather meaningful as well."

"It is, but not exactly sang in the right place."

"What do you mean??"

"We sang that song because we wanted to lit some fireworks and to bring some life to the simple and boring party."

"It isn't that boring, alright??"

"Then why are we out here instead of back in the Great Hall."

"That's a good one."

"Bet those fireworks are from Hogsmeade."

"Not fully."

"Dr Filibuster created them, we just add slight modification."

"Like making it more magnificent and colorful."

"And mess free."

"You mean they are charmed to disappeared after they're burnt??"

"That's right."

"Since when you guys are so advanced in Charms??"

"Since we are good in almost everything."

"Alright, you self-loving guys."

"That's a fact anyway."

"Are you guys staying here overnight??"

"Nah, we promised Dumbledore that we'd only be here for three hours."

"Hogwarts will be in havoc if eight of you come together for even just one night."

"Besides we're supposed to be at the other end having class at this point of time."

"I can easily forget that you guys are still students."

"Because we're too brilliant??"

"No, because you guys are so free."

"Flooing back??"

"Yeah."

"Long distance."

"Seriously long. But we did not get a portkey in advance and there's a lot of work done."

"You guys can apparate to Hogsmeade or something."

"Eh, actually only Llewell passed his Apparation test so far."

"We beat you at this."

"You mean you guys can apparate??"

"Of course."

"That's so cool."

"That's F4 and the Marauders." Some voices could be heard from nearby. Giggly girls and guys full of remarks walked passed them in a distance too close for comfort as nightfall sank in.

"Looks like the party is about to end."

"Make it through the night."

"I don't mind."

"But we need to make a move."

"Thanks for coming."

"Well, count it as our birthday present for all of you, celebrating all at once."

"Thanks."

"Do drop by if there are chances."

"No worries, we will." The ten of them stood up and started making their way towards Dumbledore office whereby the four guys had to floo back to school.

"How are Yvette and the rest doing??"

"Excelling in school as always."

"Such opposites."

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"Back to reality." Remus commented.

"At least the weekend could be called a fantasy." James sighed. It was another hectic school week once again.

"Not only do we've homework, there are other important stuffs in our mind, keeping us so busy."

"Padfoot, since when do you think about schoolwork??"

"Since I realize that the due date is the next lesson and I've yet to copy the homework."

"And what about the other important stuffs??"

"Pranks, professors, Voldemort, etcetera."

"Oh well, don't remind me."

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"Could the situation get any worst than this??" Lily asked Stefanie. Usually they can only talk freely about private issues when they soundproofed the room and their roommates are out.

"Sadly, it can."

"It's like we still have one year odd here and then we shall get out of this protective shell to the reality world with lurking dangers."

"I think it would be even worst out there."

"I'm not saying that it won't. But it's like so fast."

"I know what you mean. But what can we do??"

"Freeze time??"

"That's a good idea. But how??"

"I don't know. Just a casual remark anyway."

"We can freeze time to get rid of Voldemort!!"

"If we can freeze time, it's not like we can freeze him or something."

"If we can freeze time, we might be able to stop the harm he had been doing out there."

"It's an idea, but how are we going to carry out??" Lily stood up and paced around the dormitory, trying to get some ideas running.

"Do you think the guys know anything about freezing the time??"

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"That's a great idea!!" Sirius was highly excitable over something out of the ordinary routine.

"Does anyone know how to do it??" James pointed out. The girls immediately got the guys to their secret hiding place, which was the Room of Requirement, for some major discussion. Peter had insisted on following but somehow lost track of them since he did not have much clue about such a room.

"That's a very good question."

"I thought with the power of seven, we could do anything and everything??"

"With the power of seven, we can do anything and everything, but what happens when there's only six??"

"We can't do anything."

"Then??"

"Then we need to find the seventh person."

"It's not like any Tom, Dick or Harry can do it."

"We're not Tom, Dick and Harry."

"Harry sounds familiar."

"It's James and Lily's son in the future."

"Ahem, that's my father's name."

"Sorry."

"Never mind."

"Anyway how are we getting to the freezing time part??"

"We can find charms??"

"Padfoot, do you think there are charms that can freeze time?!?"

"I think there are."

"I believe there are some charms out there that could do it, but I believe there would be adverse effects in using it."

"Like??"

"I don't know. Otherwise everyone would be using it."

"It's probably one of those long list of charms that the Ministry had banned."

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"We need better ideas." James said finally. They had spent a week of free periods in the school library looking for some time-freezing charms or anything remotely related to it.

"Actually something just comes into my mind suddenly." Remus spoke up.

"What??" The rest of them asked.

"In this Supreme Seven thing, all our supernatural abilities are here for a reason, right??"

"I guess so."

"Someone needs to communicate with animals because there's a need for that. Wandless magic needed for defense. Telepathic abilities, eye power and mind power are all part of this supernatural power. So how did I with the gift of time travel come in??"

"Probably because we need to go to the past to alter the present??"

"Or perhaps we need to go to the future to improve our future lives??"

"Maybe we need to know the past??"

"I think there's a reason why someone is born with that gift."

"There's always a time-turner to do the job."

"That's why."

"That's some pondering to do."

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"Hey Lils." James called out to the girl who was walking alone not too far away in front of him.

"Oh James, hi."

"Where are you heading??"

"Back to the dorm." Lily shrugged. "What about you??"

"I supposed we're on the same direction."

"Where are the rest?? Rarely see the Marauders separated."

"We do have a separate lives too."

"Well, the four of you can't possibly stick together forever."

"That's a fact, you know."

"Oops. I get what you meant."

"Are you hungry??"

"Not exactly, but I do feel like munching something."

"Let's drop by the kitchens." They turned the opposite direction, instead of heading back to the Gryffindor tower.

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"Last night I had a dream." Remus said as he caressed Stefanie's hair whose head was resting on his muscular chest. It was a breezy evening before dinnertime.

"What kind of dream??" Stefanie asked curiously.

"I dreamt of an owl."

"An owl??"

"A white snowy owl."

"Why??"

"I don't know."

"What did it do??"

"Nothing, it just gives me a sense of serenity. It was like an omen or something."

"Then what else was in your dream??"

"Dreaming of you, of course."

"Not wet dreams, I hope."

"Nope, just dream of something like what's happening now."

"Lying by the lake enjoying each other company??"

"Yup. Really hope time would stop and this would last forever."

"Reality is cruel."

"Too cruel. But at least I'm enjoying all that I can now."

"Let's live the present then." Remus leaned down and initiated a kiss, which Stefanie returned lovingly.

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"Looks like a boring book."

"No, it's a good book."

"Nah, it's boring."

"You try reading it and you'll love it."

"The cover already turns me off."

"Don't judge a book by its cover."

"I flipped it open and it makes me feel like sleeping."

"Whatever." Lily continued reading her book Joy Luck Club at a cozy corner in Gryffindor common room while James continued to disturb her because he simply had nothing better to do.

"Stop."

"What if I'm not going to stop??"

"Then I shall-"

"You shall what??"

"Well, I'll think when the time comes."

"Then I shall make the time come now."


	86. The Twins

**Chapter 85: The Twins**

"I can't believe my birthday is tomorrow!!" Sirius said excitedly. It was just another hectic school week for most students, flooded with revisions as the exams were nearing and school holidays following up.

"You don't have to do this every year, do you??" James asked exasperatedly.

"It's my big day tomorrow!!"

"It's only your seventeenth birthday." Remus said, laughing. "Not like twenty first or something."

"Besides you might not be born on the eighth, since your parentage aren't the same with Stefanie." Peter said as a matter-of-fact.

"Wormtail, you don't have to spoil my day by saying that. I've been celebrating my birthday on the seventh May every year and it shall remain that way."

"Wormtail, just let him be his crazy self." James teased. "I tried stopping him back then and it got worst, so I decided to let him do whatever with himself."

"When did you ever stop him??"

"When we were ten."

"That was like so long ago."

"Not that long, Moony, I remembered it as vividly as though it had happened last week." James said in pretended horror at the memory. "It's not an everyday event to be hung upside-down in your garden wearing only your pajamas."

"How come you never mentioned about it??"

"Because it was nothing worth mentioning??"

"Oh Prongs, it _was_ a memorable birthday week."

"For you perhaps."

"He announced his birthday to the whole neighborhood??"

"Something like that."

"What do you mean??"

"He seemed like he was so afraid that I would forget like that. So for the entire week, he woke up before the sun rises and flew over to my room and bugged me till I wake up."

"Doesn't sound that bad."

"It wouldn't be that bad if he didn't try hanging me at the branch of our highest tree in his attempt to wake me up to accompany him for his week-long celebration."

"Then you said you stopped him??"

"I stopped him that year. Previously he used to bug me in my room, pouring water and pushing me onto the floor. Because back then we didn't have our own wands to perform any magic. So for two weeks before his birthday, I asked Fion to charm my room away from intruders and asked her to teach me the reverse charm."

"I knew he would do something like that. So I asked my dad about a few charms, borrowed my mum's wand that morning to do all the necessary stuffs. Well, of course my ingenious prank worked and even exceeded my own expectations."

"I don't think you really borrowed the wand, am I right??"

"You mean dear old Prongsie here were so frightened until he pee-ed on his pants and it dripped, well, you know."

"I didn't wet my pants. That's for sure." James defended. "I made him get me back onto the ground safely."

"With terms and conditions of course." Sirius laughed at the near decade old memory. "And Prongs, I borrowed the wand, well, without permission."

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"Tell me what did you get for me!!" Stefanie exclaimed. Sirius had practically announced about his mini birthday celebration in Gryffindor common room on the evening the next day and of course, like every year, the twins celebrate with their fellow Gryffindors together.

"That would so spoil the surprise." Lily's eye twinkled and the three sixth-years exchanged a wink.

"Oh, c'mon." Stefanie pleaded. "Our dorm is only this size, where else can you hide??"

"Go ahead and search, by all means." Samantha said and the three girls started laughing.

"Hey!! What's so funny??"

"Nothing, continue your hunt." Joey said, trying hard not to laugh. Stefanie was now digging Joey's trunk, looking for any suspicious present-look-alike item.

"Hmm.." Stefanie had turned to flip Samantha's trunk.

"Do you really think we will keep your present in our trunk??" Lily informed Stefanie.

"Well.."

"Wait till you see it tomorrow then."

"Aww.."

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"Happy birthday to Sirius!! Happy birthday to Stefanie!! Happy birthday to the twins!! Happy birthday to you!!" The Slytherins had stood up the moment Sirius and Stefanie entered the Great Hall for breakfast and started singing as both of them headed towards the Gryffindor table.

"Thank you so much!!" Sirius waved around the Great Hall, bowing, while the Slytherins were cheering and applauding, with a look of horror on their faces. The rest of the students were cheering for Sirius, and at the same time laughing at Slytherins.

"One more time!!" Lucius Malfoy called from the Slytherin table with strange enthusiasm. He had a horror-struck expression on his face, but his actions and words did not seemed to obey his conscious mind.

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO SIRIUS!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO STEFANIE!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO THE TWINS!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!!" The Slytherins sang with even more zest, danced along to their rhythmic tune around the Slytherin table.

"Do you guys like it??" Severus Snape called out with excitement. He was trying hard to stop himself from doing all those singing and dancing for Sirius and Stefanie, along with the rest of the Slytherins, but to no avail.

"WE LOVEEED IT!!" Sirius shouted across the Great Hall. It was one of the rare mornings whereby the student population was so awake for breakfast.

"LET'S SING ONE MORE TIME!!" Lucius shouted eagerly towards his fellow Slytherins, signaling one, two, three and they started singing once more.

This time the Slytherins were more zealous as they started doing tabletop dancing and singing, cheering loudly. The funniest thing was their expressions had totally betrayed their fanatic actions for Sirius.

"I can't believe you guys did that." Stefanie said in between laughter.

"You've got to believe this." James said, laughing at the Slytherin leader in this morning singing.

"Looks are indeed deceiving." Remus commented.

"How could you guys come up with something so brilliant when I'm not involved??" Sirius said in a pretended hurting voice.

"Padfoot, just for your information, we _always_ come up with something more brilliant when you're not participating."

"I thought I was the mastermind of all these ingenious pranks."

"You're wrong again, this is a _birthday_ prank."

"Don't tell me that's the birthday present you guys are giving me!!"

"Yup, you got that."

"Nooo!!" Sirius groaned. The rest of the seven sixth-year Gryffindor laughed at Sirius' reaction. The singing had died down greatly to a faint birthday hum in the Great Hall while everyone continued eating their breakfast and enjoying the Marauder's prank.

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"I wonder what did you guys do to the Slytherins." Stefanie asked Lily as the duo was heading towards the toilet together during after lunch. "They're like singing the Birthday song whenever I get too close to them."

"Well, we used charms and potions and of course, a stroke of brilliance to make this whole thing work." Lily laughed at the time when the six of them were trying to make the potion a week ago.

"Tell me about it." Stefanie pleaded and tugged Lily's hand.

"When we get back to the dorm, let me in to the cubicle, pleasey please."

"Promise to tell-"

"Happy birthday to you!! Happy birthday to you!! Happy birthday to Stefanie!! Happy birthday to you." Three third-year Slytherins who just stepped into the girls' toilet started singing harmoniously in front of Stefanie.

"Lily!!"

"I know. I heard that."

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"Potter!! That's such a despicable act you had done." Lucius said maliciously at James.

"What act??" James looked at him in pretended innocence.

"You jolly well know what I'm referring to."

"Well, do explain to me."

"You loathsome Marauders-"

"Prongs, I've been looking everywh-"

"Happy birthday to you!! Happy birthday to you!! Happy birthday to Sirius!! Happy birthday to you!!" Lucius and Severus with his little gang of Slytherins started singing together as Sirius approached nearer to them.

"Thank you so much!!" Sirius said, laughing a little.

"One more time!!" Lucius said readily, contradicting his horrified expression. The other three Slytherins started clapping and jumping around while starting to sing the birthday song again.

"Let's get moving because they're not going to walk in that state." James told Sirius and both guys went off in the opposite direction while the Slytherins' singing died down.

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"Let's get the party rolling!!" James, who was being the emcee for Sirius and Stefanie's mini party, announced.

"YEAH!!" Sirius cheered, with a whole lot of Gryffindors supporting cheers.

The candlelights dimmed and the song The Call started to blast from somewhere in the common room. The once cozy common room had again been switched to a partying ground with a dance floor in the middle and all the couches moved to the sides.

"Just like another common room party." Lily spoke a little louder than usual to James who just joined the group.

"It's like another of the twin's party." James agreed, pointing towards Sirius and Stefanie who were having all the attention from their admirers. Sirius was surrounded by a group of younger students who were much shorter than his 1.8metre build, while Stefanie was talking animatedly with a group of fourth and fifth-years girls.

"Sirius' charm has definitely increased since last year." Lily joked.

"Yeah, looks like he is starting to attract younger guys as well."

"Well, I don't think he will slant in anyway."

"I agree. He absolutely adores girls."

"I can see that in his eyes." Sirius' eyes were twinkling with delight as the younger students he was talking to were all laughing at something he said.

"Let's go and join the rest." James suggested.

"Eh, the _rest_ seems to be kinda divided." Lily turned to her left where Sirius was still talking, while on her extreme right was Stefanie and Remus along with some younger students, Samantha and Joey were dancing with some guys from the seventh year, even Peter was on the dance floor with a third-year.

"I get your point." James laughed a little. "I think we can go get a drink or something."

"Hey James." A feminine voice called out from somewhere. "Hi Lily."

"Oh, hi." James greeted the girls who just joined them. "What's up??"

"Hi Gracie." Lily replied politely. "Well, you guys enjoy yourself, excuse me." She turned and headed towards Stefanie and Remus who were still chatting with some younger students.

"Erm, wa-"

"May I have the honor to dance with you??" Gracie asked, a little shyly. Her friends were all getting giggly behind her.

"Erm, I'm going to join my friends." James rejected courteously. "Another time perhaps. So sorry."

"Never mind then." Gracie turned and left quickly.

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"This is a nice song, shall we dance??" Stefanie asked Remus. The song, Together In Electric Dreams, boomed and drove the party to a full swing.

"Sure." Remus agreed eagerly.

"Sorry, please excuse us."  
  


"It's ok." The couple excused themselves from the group and headed towards the dance floor.

"Finally decided to get your butt up to dance??" Lily walked towards them.

"Hey, where's James??"

"His admirer swept him off his feet??" Lily said jokingly.

"You're kidding, right??"

"Of course she's kidding, I'm right here." James said as he joined the group.

"Where's Gracie??"

"No idea."

"How can you reject a girl who ask you for a dance??"

"I don't feel like dancing with her."

"You're such in insensitive jerk, ya know??"

"Who cares??"

"Oh, fine."

"Hey, let's not waste time talking and get 'our butts moving'."

"That's my phrase."

"It was rephrased."

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"Usually that's how we do it."

"But how would you know where the Slythrin tower is??"

"We explored Hogwarts and know every nook and corner of it." Sirius boasted. "By heart."

"That's so cool."

"Well, we've our means to move around."

"But the prefects and professors?? Don't they catch you guys or something??"

"Who say we never got caught?? We have the longest list of detentions in the whole history of Hogwarts."

"Wow. That's so brave."

"Detentions could be fun, especially if we do it together."

"What's your most exciting detention."

"Well-" Sirius thought for a while. "I must say it's those toilet cleaning detentions." The group of students laughed.

"Why??"

"Because we play water bomb as we clean the toilets. We can even shower during those toilet-cleaning session."

"That's like so cool."

"The most boring is the cleaning the trophy room. Usually if we're giving a choice, we always request to wash toilet."

"But there are just so limited toilets to wash."

"Well, we can always dirty it first, then when detention comes, we request to wash that toilet."

"That's so intelligent of you Marauders."

"Of course, that's why we _are_ the Marauders."

"Can I be part of your team too??"

"There will only be four Marauders in the history of Hogwarts and that's the four of us."

"We can do something like what you guys do too."

"That would be so unoriginal."

"That's why."

"Well, we are the one and only Marauders."

"There could be jokester or entertainers too."

"But nothing beats the Marauders."

"Yeah man!!"

"So can I excuse myself??"

"One more question, please."

"Ok, shoot."

"How did Peter Pettigrew join the Marauders??" A second-year student asked curiously.


	87. Exams Woes

**Chapter 86: Exams Woes**

"I hate exams!!" Sirius complained as he threw his Charms book aside and lied onto his bed.

"You're not the only one." James commented without looking up and continued flipping pages after pages of his Herbology book.

"Who likes exams??" Remus was the only one who was sitting upright reading on his desk. The other three Marauders were lying on their stomach either on the floor or on their beds.

"The girls."

"I don't think so."

"They always get good grades for tests and exams."

"Padfoot, in case you haven't notice, but Prongs and you are like the top students in our year."

"Eh, you are the third."

"But they love studying."

"We love practical lessons."

"What's our first paper??"

"Erm, Charms??"

"It's Herbology."

"When??"

"Next Monday."

"Ok, I better read up or plants."

"Padfoot, you better know your own schedule."

"I got you guys to tell me about it."

"We can't be here to inform you all the time."

"As long as you guys are here with me."

"That's such a mushy statement."

"Oh Moony, don't you know that I _absolutely_ can't live without you??" Sirius said dramatically and gave Remus a seductive look.

"Padfoot, don't tell me you turned homosexual!!" Remus played along and added to the drama.

"Moony, run for your life!!" James called out.

"Oh, Prongsie Prongs." Sirius turned over to James.

"Do try anything." James warned, laughing at the seductive looking Sirius. "I'm heterosexual."

"Prongs, I know of your bisexuality." Sirius spoke in a higher pitch. "Ever since I slept with you."

"Hey, hey, hey, I never ever _slept_ with you."

"Padfoot, are you ok??" Peter asked with concern.

"Oh wormytail, you are _soooo_ concern about me." Sirius turned around towards Peter.

"Padfoot, noooo!!" Peter squeaked and all of them burst into laughters.

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"Can someone entertain me??" Samantha spoke up. The four girls were all mugging their textbooks, which were stacked next to them.

"Sam, that's a great suggestion." Lily looked up from her Transfiguration book.

"But how??" Joey asked, closed her book for a short break since Samantha broke the silence.

"How about some food??" Stefanie suggested.

"We will get fat if we continue to eat as we mug."

"Sam, you're already very slim!!"

"Ok, majority rules."

"I go for food." Lily voted.

"I'm ok with the food too." Joey agreed.

"Then who's getting it??"

"I get it." Lily offered. "I need some movement for blood circulation."

"Thanks dear."

"You're welcome." Lily left her dormitory and went down the spiral staircase. In the common room, students clustered in groups of threes or fours were studying quietly with an occasional cough and mumbled.

_The exam mood again._ Lily shook her head and moved as silently as she could towards the exit. _Can't wait for the holidays._ She climbed out of the portrait hole as softly as possible. The corridors were practically emptied except for the Hogwarts ghosts who were floating around. Lily strolled towards the kitchens, a direction that she knew by heart.

Ccclasssshhhh!!

"Ouch!!" Lily rubbed her forehead, which had knocked onto something hard.

"Lils??"

"Eh, James, what are you doing here??"

"Just went to the kitchen to fetch some food. You??"

"Going to the kitchen to get some food."

"Taking a break, huh??"

"Yeah, all those mugging is driving me nuts."

"Wanna go for a walk??"

"Where can we walk to??"

"Hogsmeade??" James whispered to Lily's right ear.

"Sounds great." With the newfound entertainment, she had totally forgot all about heading to the kitchens to get food for her friends.

"Let's go." The duo moved briskly towards the statue, which had a tunnel that led to Honeydukes in Hogsmeade.

"It's so horribly silent here."

"I agree, but I have a horrifyingly noisy Sirius back in the dorm."

"Well, if he's not noisy, he's not Sirius."

"You're so right at that."

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"Where's Prongs??" Remus asked suddenly, closing the book he just finished studying.

"That's a good point. He's gone for ages." Sirius looked up from his Herbology, which seemed like he was still at the first few page.

"He went to the kitchens." Peter said.

"But it's like an hour since he left us."

"Are you worried that he might get lost on his way to the kitchens??"

"Yeah, I'm worried that he might get kidnapped or something."

"Padfoot?!?"

"Just kidding."

"Is the map in the dorm??"

"Don't know."

"Check his trunk." Sirius began to search for the old looking parchment in James' trunk.

"Got it." Holding up their masterpiece of hardwork, Sirius tapped it with his wand. "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good." The lines crawled along the old parchment and dots began to appear either moving or still.

"Hmm.." Remus joined Sirius to look for James in the map.

"This is our usual way to and fro from the kitchens." Peter pointed out their usual pathway from the Gryffindor tower to the kitchens.

"There's no sign of him." Sirius concluded.

"Did you guys notice something??" Remus asked smiling away.

"Erm, Prongs isn't in the map??" Sirius replied with a question.

"That meant that he's not in Hogwarts."

"And where could he be??"

"There's only one place he could be if he's not in Hogwarts."

"That's Hogsmeade."

"You guys still haven't noticed it yet."

"Notice what??"

"Look at the girls' dormitory." The three slightly moving dots in the sixth-year girls' dormitory labeled Stefanie, Joey and Samantha.

"Where's Lily??" Sirius asked quizzically.

"Lily and James, both missing in Hogwarts." Remus said finally.

"They went Hogsmeade together." Peter added.

"Ooh, now I get you!! They both are out dating!!" Sirius said with a jolt of realization.

"Finally."

"But I want my food!!" Sirius muttered.

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"What's taking Lily??" Joey asked after a while of more studying.

"Now that you said, she had gone for quite some time."

"Maybe she got distracted??"

"By what??"

"More of by whom."

"Who have the power to distract her??"

"James." Stefanie said, grinning away.

"How you know??"

"Just guessing."

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"Do you wanna go further than this??" Lily asked suddenly. The duo was walking along the streets of Hogsmeade, passing many shops and only entering those they needed to.

"Where do you suggest??"

"I don't know, since we can apparate."

"Somewhere different would be nice."

"Like??"

"I really don't know."

"How about the forest??"

"What forest??"

"The Forbidden Forest?? I haven't really been in before."

"It's full of danger."

"But-"

"No buts, I won't expose you to such danger."

"Hey."

"Let's go to Zonkos."

"Fine."

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"Shall we write a letter to Bell??" Stefanie said suddenly. "It had been quite some time since we last heard from her."

"Good idea."

"Lily's not here though."

"Well, she wouldn't mind." Stefanie got her stationery ready and Samantha and Joey went to join her.

_Dear Bell,_

_          How are you doing?? It had been sometime since we last heard from you. We miss you loads and it's just so different without you around in Hogwarts. I know we can meet up soon together in the summer holidays, but it's just not the same as having you around us all the time._

_          Exams are around the corner and we absolutely miss studying with you around. And you are like our hairstylist sometimes, playing our hair with colours and style. And the end of year is around the corner, we're going to play makeover again, and it's just so strange only having the four of us._

_          Do owl us more often. And we hope you can join us at the end-of-year feast. It's like our last second end-of-year feast. Time flies so quickly and I already start missing the times in Hogwarts although we still have one more year to go._

_Lots of Love,_

_Jo, Sam and Stef._

_P.S.: Lily is out dating James somewhere now, that's why the letter is so much shorter._

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Arabella laughed upon reading the newly delivered letter from her old friends cum ex-dormitory mates. She re-read the letter again before getting her pen and paper and start writing back. Stefanie's owl was still standing next to her beside the windowsill, waiting patiently as she wrote.

_Dear Jo, Sam, Stef, and Lils,_

_          You don't know how much it meant to me to receive a letter from you. Not that I'm not doing well or anything like that, but it's just that I miss you all so much!! I guess it around exams time right now, still hasn't lost touch completely with Hogwarts yet._

_          So who are Jo and Sam dating now?? I know Stef is with Remus and of course, Lils and James. Do keep me updated okie?? I do wish that I could join you all at the end-of-year feast, but I'm not sure if I could. I might write to Dumbledore to request. It's not nice to always make use of his kindness especially since he had always been so easy with us no matter what wrong we had done._

_          We really should meet up to do some catching up during the summer break, it had been donkey years since I last seen you guys. Well, I gotta go get the kids for dinner now, can't wait to hear from you soon, and Lils too._

_Hugs and Kisses,_

_Bell_

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"It's getting late."

"The night is still young." Lily groaned.

"The sun had already set."

"Oh great, the moon is rising."

"Luckily it's not full moon." James muttered to himself.

"What??"

"Nothing."

"Ok."

"I think we better get moving back."

"What time does Honeydukes closes??"

"No clue."

"I thought you frequent Hogsmeade??"

"But we never bother about what time it closes because there's always an alternative route back."

"Which – oh ya, the shack."

"Uh huh."

"I prefer Honeydukes."

"Definitely, don't enjoy dealing with the whooping tree."

"Eh, Honeydukes is at the other direction." Lily pointed backwards.

"I know, just going to get some butterbeers first."

"For the guys??"

"Yeah, I was supposed to get some food for them from the kitchen about three hours ago."

"Oh shucks!!" Lily suddenly remembered what she was supposed to do. "I think let's get to Three Broomsticks quickly." She started brisk-walking towards the popular hangout in Hogsmeade Village.


	88. Give Me A Break

**Chapter 87: Give Me A Break**

"It's over!!" Sirius yelled at the top of his lungs.

"Padfoot, calm down. This is only a normal exam." James laughed at his silly friend who was currently bouncing around the corridors.

"How could I calm down??" Sirius, as usual, was getting both admiring glances and strange glares from the other students. "It's like two more weeks of school!!"

"Padfoot, you're not exactly _young_ to be bouncing around. Image, you know??" Remus called out. Several first and second years were eyeing Sirius with a strange expression on their faces. The three walking Marauders were laughing at the bouncing one.

"Who cares?? I'm young at heart." Sirius ignored all the odd looks that he was receiving from doing something as outlandish as bouncing along Hogwarts corridors, considering he's 1.8 meters in height.

"You really needn't inform us. We do have eyes." Peter added.

"Sirius, what's wrong with you??" Stefanie called out to the bouncing and jumping Sirius as the two girls joined the Marauders.

"He's mad."

"He's insane."

"He's crazy."

"I'm happy."

"Er.."

"Guys, I've to agree with you for Sirius' childish behavior."

"Oh, c'mon, I'm just expressing my joy and happiness."

"That's a good way, huh." Lily said, laughing. Funny was the understatement to describe Sirius' action. It was hilarious.

"You guys are just jealous."

"Padfoot, I don't know about the rest. But I assure you, I'm not jealous of you, not at all in any sense." James defended himself in a joking manner, which made everyone around him laughed.

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"Can we get Arabella back, just for a day??" Lily begged. The four Gryffindors were in Dumbledore's office, making a request.

"It's nearly impossible to get someone non-magical to enter Hogwarts." Dumbledore eyes twinkled in the candlelight as he spoke to the girls.

"She _was_ magical before." Samantha reasoned.

"And Arabella is magical by herself, whether she has the ability to perform magic or not." Stefanie added.

"Tell me one way why she's magical."

"There's the magic of friendship and bonding between the five of us that no one else can replace." Lily said instantly.

"Since you all are so persistent, I see what I can do." Dumbledore smiled warmly at them.

"Thank you so much, Professor." The girls chorused happily.

"I didn't promise that she'd definitely be here." The girls swore that they saw Dumbledore giving them a mischievous wink as he was saying that.

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"What's gonna be the prank of the century this year??" James asked the guys. They had soundproofed the room for a major discussion on this sunny Wednesday afternoon. Since exams were over, the whole school was in total freedom.

"What else can we do in the Hall??" Remus commented. "We had done almost everything."

"As you said, _almost_ but not every thing." Sirius pointed out.

"Since you always say you are the mastermind, why don't you think of something??"

"I'm racking my brains, just lacking of juices at the moment."

"I thought you've _unlimited_ supply of ideas??"

"I used up most of them in the last six years."

"Does that mean we're going to tone down next year??" Peter asked.

"Of course not!!"

"No way!!"  
  


"We can manage something decent over the break."

"But now we need some idea."

"Padfoot??"

"Don't disturb genius at thoughts!!"

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"This looks pretty!!" Joey commented. The girls were out at Hogsmeade Village to catch up with some end of year shopping. Dumbledore had given permission for the sixth- and seventh-year students an additional Hogsmeade day upon request by most of the older students.

"Look at this dress!!" Samantha said, holding up a simple black dress.

"What about this top??" Stefanie placed the cream-colored top in front of her and checked out at the nearest mirror.

"This jeans look gorgeous." Lily held the faded denim hipster jeans in front of her and looked at the full-length mirror. Not many people in Hogsmeade would shop at the muggle clothing store, which was rather isolated, but Lily and Stefanie were almost regulars there.

"Why don't you girls give them a try??" Miss Selfridge, a pretty lady in her twenties, told her only customers in the store. "I can always do the alterations to make them more figure flattering."

"We always love your clothes." Stefanie told her. "You copied them from muggle stores??"

"Well, I love clothes from muggle stores like Levi, Mango, Zara and Topshop, don't know if you gals have heard of them. Anyway, I figure that young witches might like them too, so I just got the idea from there."

"You bet we love it." Stefanie was now looking at another top with a knee-length skirt. "My fave is still the denim jeans from Mango, I think, which I got from here. Made to fit, unlike from those muggle stores."

"That's why we're more fortunate than them." Miss Selfridge said honestly. "We can use magic to alter, but they need to use thread and needles which is so much more time consuming. Sometimes I just wish I could help them."

"Threads and needles are like a common thing for muggles, you need them when a button come loose or patching up some lose seams." Lily, being the muggleborn, told them.

"That's right. Threads and needles are essential to muggles. For us it's just a wave of wand."

"I grew up in mixed muggle and magical world, so I still have some rough idea about them."

"I must be the most ignorance one, I have absolutely how to go about using needles and thread, the muggle way."

"Some girls do like sewing as a pastime."

"Remember I showed you the cross-stitch that I done several months ago??"

"Yeah, it looked fascinating."

"It is fascinating to some extent."

"Hey, what do you think of my outfit??" Joey asked, a little unsure of her image.

"It looks great on you." Samantha said approvingly.

"It suits your cute sweetie pie look." Lily added positively.

"Lils, that's too exaggerating. Stef??"

"I think it looks good, maybe you can try alter the top a little to make it more fitting??"

"You do have a good fashion sense."

"Inherited from my mum."

"Sam, you look so _feminine_!!" Lily exclaimed a little too exaggerated the moment Samantha appeared in a simple white dress with small pink embroidered flowers.

"Your image isn't exactly the feminine type, ya know??" Stefanie and Joey laughed a little.

"Ok, whatever. I'm just trying to see how I look." Samantha gave a pout and turned back to change to her next outfit.

"Lily, aren't you going to try this new hipster?? This is one of the newest arrival."

"Oh ya." Lily went to the other changing room to change while Stefanie was still searching for other clothing hung around the racks.

"Eeep, I can't zip up this dress." Samantha exclaimed a little too loudly in the changing room. All the five ladies started laughing at her little comment.

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"NO!! NO!! NO!!" James emphasized. Sirius had just came up with a crazy suggestion of making the professors do pole dancing as a breakfast treat which was totally irrational and out of the question.

"I don't know if your mind is ok, but I still want to graduate next year." Remus laughed. The very image of Dumbledore, McGonagall, Porky dancing on the staff table with newly transfigured metal poles was ridiculously funny although it would never happen.

"Padfoot, have you gotten some post-exam stress or pre-results fever?? You seems a little off these days." James said in genuine concern.

"I'm trying to find some decent suggestions."

"Doing pole-dancing in Hogwarts for breakfast don't seem very decent to me."

"Whoever said pole dancing must be dance naked or stripping??"

"Yeah, imagine Dumbledore wearing his normal long white cloak and dance while Maggie in her tall pointy hat dancing with a pole??"

"Very funny indeed."

"Next idea please." James was a little flustered. They were always more worried about not coming with a good prank than scoring for an exam.

"Let's make a list from what we did in the past."

"What did we do in the first year??"

"We didn't do anything."

"Second??"

"The super soakers."

"Then Operation floaty and itchy Slytherins."

"I still can remember Porky, well – hmm.."

"Animal potion in fourth year."

"Last year was the ultimate, sex change."

"Then this year?? We need something that shake the world."

"Wait, I will definitely think of something." Sirius assured.

"I'm not assured by that. I think we might come up with something before you do."

"I already had so many suggestions, you guys just rejected them."

"Professors doing pole dance and Slytherins doing striptease for breakfast is totally impractical, Padfoot!!"

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"I wonder if Dumbledore agreed to let Bell come for the end-of-year feast and stay with us for that night." Lily told James. The two were doing their night patrol after curfew hour after the final prefects meeting for the semester year.

"It would be wonderful if she can come. Sirius had gone bonkers without Bell."

"I thought he was never sane to begin with."

"He used to be more level headed."

"In what sense??"

"More like pranking sense, I guess."

"He probably ran out of ideas."

"Probably."

"So what's the year end prank??"

"I'm not saying."

"C'mon, just leak a bit."

"No."  
  


"A _wee_ bit??"

"Nah, don't try to convince me."

"I get some Veritaserum."

"I get my short term memory erase then."

"Oei!!"

"No!!"  
  


"C'mon!!" Lily was pulling onto James' sleeve.

"I'm not saying anything."

"Aww, you can't do that."

"Why not??"

"Never mind, I ask Stef. Remus tells her everything."

"Remus do tell Stef everything, but he never tell her about our pranks. And this is like the biggest prank of the century."

"You all say the same thing every year."

"Because it just get better."

"Lift up to your Marauders standard, huh."

"Of course, we're doing advance magic that even some professor have no idea about it."

"Like??"

"Like the animal thingie and sex changing stuffs."

"Then this year??"

"Zip!!" James gave the zipping mouth signal.

"Fine."

"Good."

"I thought you zipped your mouth??"

"I unzipped it when you were not looking."

"Haha, very funny."

"I know you love my sense of humor."

"I prefer Sirius insane humor."

"No one can beat his insane humor."

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"It's exactly seven more days before the feast and we have absolutely no clue what prank we would be doing." Remus said in another of their major discussion. Most students were at Hogsmeade while the rest were hanging out in the outdoors in the sunny weather.

"In any case we need a potion which might take a longer time to prepare."

"We can always travel back time to do it." Remus assured. "No worries about that."

"But at least we need an idea. A ground shaking idea."

"Earthquake in Hogwarts??"  
  


"Haha. Very funny."

"Just kidding."

"Making objects tumbling??"

"Raining cats and dogs??"

"Chaos??"

"Mess??"

"It seems like none sounds anywhere near impressive."

"We need something absolutely, well, impressive."

"You don't need to repeat my speech actually."

"People are starting to wonder what we might do."

"And we have just no clue what we're going to do."


	89. What's the Prank?

**Chapter 88: What's the prank??**

"This idea is totally a stroke of brilliance!!" Sirius exclaimed.

"Obviously." James boasted. "Afterall, it's my idea once again."

"So can we get on to doing it??" Remus reminded the group. The four Marauders were hanging out in the boys' dormitory having a no-life sunny afternoon indoors.

"Ok, so what do we need to start now??"

"We need-" Remus read from the long list of ingredients needed for the Shrinking Potion that was drastically modified by the four of them. "Three strands of Unicorn hair."

"Down." Sirius placed the three strands of unicorn hair into the bubbly honey gold solution, which turned silver upon the addition of new ingredients. "Next."

"Daisy roots."

"Chopped ones."

"Wait, we need to simmer it down for five minutes until the silver color gets a little more thicker."

"Sirius, concentrate on the potion!!"

"I'm _concentrating_!! The simmering part is in a smaller font."

"That's not exactly a good excuse considering you've _perfect_ eyesight, while the myopia me noticed the small font."

"Never mind."

"Next add four Widelia petals." Sirius added the four small yellow petals into the thick syrupy boiling liquid and instantly it changed color again.

"Leave it to boil for one hour." James read and then they charmed the miniature fire, which was glowing in the middle of their dormitory to extinguish by itself after an hour of burning.

"Meanwhile I think we can get some food from the kitchens."

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"What would be the prank by the Marauders this year??"

"I bet it's going to be great."

"Well, it's always fun and everyone get to participate."

"Everyone is talking about our end of year prank." Remus commented. The four guys were walking along the corridors and they had already walked passed at least seven groups of students talking about them.

"Definitely."

"Our pranks are well, amazing??"

"So you guys care to share your _amazing_ idea with us??" Stefanie asked as the two girls joined the group.

"Unfortunately, no." Sirius said, giving Stefanie the sad puppy look.

"Why not??"

"Because you gals going to be part of it."

"Part of your prank?!"

"Everyone is going to be part of it, we too are going to join in the fun."

"If you guys are thinking about drugging the drinks again, then I think can forget it." Lily said. "We overheard some Slytherins talking about not touching the food and drinks until confirmed safe to consume.  
  


"Those scaredy cats."

"Scaredy slithering slimey Slytherins."

"You bet."

"So what do we do??" Peter asked.

"No problem." James and Sirius assured him. "Plan proceeds as usual."

"What if-"

"Well, no worries Wormtail."

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"This portion we can use as backup." James instructed. "Then we just use this amount into the pumpkin juice for breakfast tomorrow.

"Let's have an early rest." Remus laughed. "I got this feeling that tomorrow is going to be a tiring day."

"All ready." Sirius gave thumb-up signs at their prank preparations, which he had set them nicely on James' table.

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"Prongs and I are going to the kitchens." Sirius said excitedly. "We shall leave the Gryffindors to you."

"No worries." The four guys sneaked out silently in darkness. James and Sirius crept down to the common room and then headed towards the kitchens in the Invisibility Cloak, while Remus and Peter went upstairs to the seventh-year boys' dormitory to do a part of their prank.

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"I can't seem to find my broom anywhere." Lily was looking around her dormitory.

"Lils, you'll find them when you're not hunting for it. Can we get down for breakfast??"

"I'm starving." The four girls woke up earlier than usual to do a little dressing up. By now they were pros at this and needed very little time to look perfectly with make-up and hair styled.

"Ok, coming." Lily scanned her dormitory for a last time before dashing out to join her three roommates who were waiting for her by the door.

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"Everyone is looking at us." Remus commented. The Marauders walked into the Great Hall and all eyes turned over to look at them. Everything was perfectly normal.

"Well, they're expecting something." Sirius said, smiling at a few girls here and there.

"No worries, the back-up is in our dorm." James said confidently.

"Let's start the breakfast, I'm getting kinda hungry."

"Hey guys." Stefanie called out.

"Morning." The guys replied, with the mouth already filled with toast and scrambled eggs.

"Looks like some people are hungry today."

"We're hungry everyday."

"We're growing boys."

"If you few are growing anymore, you would hit the ceiling."

"So, everything's normal??"

"What's not normal??"

"Nothing."

"Then??"

"Strange, today is the last second day of the year."

"We're well aware of that."

"No pranks??"

"Not yet."

"Okay. So when??"

"Only Marauders know."

"These guys are always like that, thinking they're so high and almighty."

"Well, their egos are a little too big."

"The eggs taste nicer today." James said suddenly to nobody in particular.

"What??" Lily and Stefanie stopped eating their eggs immediately and gave the scrambled eggs on their plates a suspicious look.

"Nothing." Sirius gave a super sweet smile. Lily and Stefanie eyed the eggs apprehensively. Some of the students nearby also started studying their eggs. "There's nothing wrong with the eggs." Sirius said and put a big piece of yellow food into his mouth and started chewing. He swallowed everything in his mouth with a rather loud 'groop' and opened his mouth for the girls to check. "See, nothing wrong."

"I never said there were anything wrong with the eggs." James said innocently. "I just commented that the taste improved."

Breakfast hour was ending soon and some students had already cleared since nothing unusual had happened to them. Many students were expecting some sort of abnormality to happen.

"Where are you guys going after this??"

"Nowhere in particular."

"Wanna go Hogsmeade??" Stefanie suggested.

"You girls go ahead without us."

"Remus??"

"Well, let's go for a while." Remus placed his right hand on Stefanie's shoulder.

"Then I guess I better not go." Lily commented.

"It's alright, let's go together."

"Nah, I give it a miss."

"So see you guys later." Remus and Stefanie left the group to head for the tunnel towards Hogsmeade.

"I've got something to do too." Peter said and left the group hastily.

"That's left the three of us, how about a day out at the lake??" Sirius suggested.

"Sure." Lily and James agreed and the three left the Great Hall for the morning.

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"Just tell me pleasey please!!" Lily was tugging the sleeve of the two guys who were sitting on both her sides facing the lake with Giant swimming around and his tentacles sticking up now and then.

"Prongsie, your _darling_ is begging you."

"Paddy, you _dearie_ is asking you."

"Fine." Lily finally stopped bugging the two guys.

"Shall we go somewhere else?? It's kinda boring sitting here facing Giant." James asked.

"I love my Giant, it managed to grow to this size all thanks to me."

"I wonder if it's really grateful to you for making it so humongous."

"Of course it is."

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"Still nothing happened??" Stefanie commented. Everyone was gathered together for the end-of-year feast on the last day of the semester. The long anticipated prank by the Marauders never seemed to appear, or at least yet to, had made the day more boring than usual.

"You'll see." Remus gave each guy a wink.

"Hmm.. Something is bound to happen after dinner. I knew it." Lily said certainly.

"-May the feast begins." Dumbledore finished his speech with food appearing on the plates. The Marauders were contained with excitement to be listening to Dumbledore's end-of-year feast speech, while the girls were still trying to find out their prank. Apparently they had not given up since breakfast.

"Finally." Sirius dug hungrily onto the plate of mash potatoes in front of him.

"Sirius, you never knows when one day you might just choke."

"I'm not worried about that. My throat is big enough for everything to flow downwards."

"And his stomach is bottomless."

"Seeing Sirius' eating habit can really well – slim us down."

"Huh??"

"It's a nicer way to say that we lose our appetite."

"Oh."

"Shall we make our speech??" James said an hour later. The plates, though refillable, were getting emptied, while most students had already sat back and chatting away more than eating their main course.

"Sure." Sirius agreed.

"What speech??" Lily inquired.

"Listen first." Remus smiled.

"One.. Two.. Three." James signaled.

"Marauders, Marauders, we are the strong and almighty ones." The four guys chorused together in perfect synchrony.

"Everything seems to be expanding." Lily commented, looking around her.

"Or are we shrinking??" Stefanie turned around to see the students at the other tables.

"Ahhh!!" Some screams could be heard from the first and second years that were not very used to such strange encounters.

"Ah, our school pranksters are doing their job once again." The tall and humongous looking Dumbledore said from the front of the school, his voice boomed and the students could feel the chairs vibrating.

"Pass down this message." James turned to tell the fifth year guys who were sitting on his left. "Accio your broom." Sirius turned to his left while Remus and Peter turned to their right to pass the same message down the Gryffindor table.

"No wonder you guys chose to sit at the center." Lily told the guys. "Thought you guys wanted more attention."

"Well, that's one of the reasons."

"Then the other is to pass the message."

"That's right."

"Stef, I can't see you now." Lily shouted rather loudly across the table, which was now higher than the mere sixteen centimeter herself.

"The table seems so huge suddenly." Stefanie replied loudly.

"I thought I just told you gals to accio your broom over??" James told the two conversing girls.

"Don't tell me you want to try another way of landing on the ground besides using a broom." Remus joked. Both girls reached towards the edge of the chair to take a peek. The once normal sized chair suddenly looked so huge that the ground seemed like a few meter drop.

"Accio Thunderbolt."

"Accio Nimbus."

The Gryffindors started accioing their broomsticks over to the Great Hall. Suddenly there was an influx of flying-matchsticks look-alikes entering the Great Hall and landed at the chairs next to the students.

"Wow, our broomsticks shrink with us." Someone from Gryffindor commented.

"Looks like no one noticed we charmed their brooms." Sirius said with a sad tone.

"They'll know soon enough."

Suddenly there was a huge shiny broomstick flew into the Great Hall and landed on one of the Slytherin chair with a loud 'tud'.

"OUCH!!"

"Crabbe and Goyle!! Are you two mad?!?"


	90. Physically Challenged

**Chapter 89: Physically Challenged**

"This is fun!!" A first year Gryffindor shouted. Since the first years were not allowed their own broomsticks, the senior students had offered them a lift back to Gryffindor tower on their brooms.

"Definitely." Sirius told the younger student who sat behind him on his broomstick.

"Hold tight." James told the first year behind him. Immediately he accelerated to maximum speed upwards vertically.

"WOW!!" The boy behind James responded. "This is cool."

"Don't worry, I won't let you fall." Lily assured the younger student who sat behind her on her broom.

"I-I'm scared." The girl stammered with her eyes tightly shut.

"Just hold me tight and I assure you we'll be in the common room in no time." The first year held her waist even tighter, nearly choking her. "Not so tight, my dear." Lily managed weakly. Her broom was going in a rather slow pace as compared with the guys. After all, some first-years still had a phobia with flying.

"Lils, fly faster." Sirius called out, slowing down beside her.

"Eve, this is fun man!!" The first-year behind Sirius shouted.

"We're making a move first." Sirius said. "Luke, hold on tight."

"Sure thing." Luke replied. Sirius' broom soared upwards accelerating to full speed.

"Woah!!"

"Are you afraid??" Stefanie asked the girl behind her.

"Nope."

"You sure??"

"Actually a little."

"Relax a little, flying is fun." Stefanie told her, the broom was moving in normal speed up towards Gryffindor tower.

"I know, can't help feeling afraid of the height."

"We're reaching soon enough."

From the Great Hall, most of the Gryffindors were flying on pre-charmed miniature broomsticks towards the Gryffindor common room. To the normal-sized teachers, those flying broomsticks looked more like buzzing matchsticks in the air with someone sitting on them.

"Actually you guys can use matchsticks instead of broomsticks." The boy behind Remus told him.

"That's actually a good idea." Remus replied. "But a matchstick isn't safe to ride on. It's directionless and need charm to make it fly."

"Oh yeah, didn't thought of that."

"Must think of pros and cons for every equipment we use for our pranks."

"You guys are really brilliant." The first year praised.

"That's why we are the Marauders."

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"Can't we charm the broomsticks smaller??" A fifth-year Ravenclaw prefect asked.

"Not possible." Pepper replied. The Ravenclaw prefects came together on one of the chairs to discuss how they could return to their Ravenclaw tower as soon as possible while the older students were calming the younger ones.

"How about matchsticks??"

"It's a good idea, but we need to make sure they can fly and take all of us back safely."

"How about we summon just one broom to take all of us back??"

"That's quite a good idea."

"Then we just secure ourselves so we won't fall."

"That settles it."

"I get my Nimbus." The seventh-year prefect and captain of Ravenclaw quidditch team said.

The prefects went to gather all the Ravenclaws to the center of the table where the large Nimbus broomstick stood. They helped one another onto the broom and secured themselves onto it with a charm.

"Is everyone secured??" Pepper shouted to the back.

"Yes!!" A series of positive replies were heard.

"Off we go." The Ravenclaw team captain, who sat right at the front, steered his broom up and out of the Great Hall, heading back to the Ravenclaw tower. About seventy Ravenclaws, from the first to seven years were all sitting on one broomstick, was indeed showing their team spirit.

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"Come get me if you can!!" James taunted. The Gryffindor prefects had gotten all the students safely back to their common room via the broomsticks. Those who had their own brooms were out along the corridors again.

"Wait till I lay my hands on you." Lucius shouted maliciously.

"Well, we'll be waiting." Sirius added. The Marauders flew back to the Great Hall where all the Slytherins were still stuck at.

"C'mon baby." James told him broomstick as it hovered over the Slytherins, especially above Lucius and his goons.

"It's no fun playing with these goons." Remus told the Marauders loudly. "I've a better place in mind."

"Why don't we all climb up Vaness and Gordon's broom and fly back??" Severus suggested.

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"Let's move quickly." The group of Hufflepuffs were returning to their tower in a big group. They had left the Great Hall immediately after the Gryffindors by transfiguring the fork to an umbrella whereby they float down to the ground safe and sound.

"First and second years, don't stray off." The Hufflepuff prefects were keeping the order since the younger students were rather frightened.

"AHH!! LOOK!!" A fourth year cried out, pointing at something not too far away.

"It's a spider!!"

"A humongous spider!!"  
  


"We're small that's why it's huge!!" Someone corrected.

"Let's move quickly." Some prefects led the way while the rest kept the order from the back. The spider was frightened at the strange sight and crawled out of the window.

They reached the moving staircases and all of them climbed up the steps. Some students were too short and they needed help from their fellow students.

WhiZZZ!!

A large broomstick whizzed passed their top, transporting the Ravenclaws up the staircase without any hassle.

"Why don't we use the broom instead??" Someone spoke out.

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"Hagrid, can we take Fangs out for a walk??" James asked Hagrid. The Marauders flew towards the Gamekeeper hut for a visit.

"You are too small to control Fangs." Hagrid told the four tiny Marauders who sat comfortably on his tabletop with their legs crossed.

"You always say dear old Fangs is one tame dog." Sirius added.

"Fangs is tame, but he's a big thing."

"Fangs, wanna go for a walk??" James asked the bulldog who was lying on the couch. The Marauders were such regulars in Hagrid's hut that Fangs was comfortable with them around.

"Woof!!" Fangs barked and gave his tail a wave.

"Looks like he needs a walk." Remus said, winking at the rest while Hagrid was not looking.

"Alright then." Hagrid gave in finally. The Marauders climbed onto their broomsticks again and led Fangs out of the hut.

"Thanks Hagrid!!" The Marauders shouted together.

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"You idiot, don't keep pulling me!!" Lucius shouted at his fellow Slytherins. They were trying to stable themselves on the broom, but everytime the broom was elevated by a little, someone slipped off and fell onto the table with a 'tud'.

"I can't balance myself."

"It's your broom!!"

"Those Ravenclaws can do it, so can we!!"

"Get up!!"

"In this case I don't think we can even make our way back to our common room."

"Ahh, I'm falling off."

"Hold tight." The broom finally elevated a little from the table. Though everyone was not very stable on it, they held onto it with their dear life.

There was no rapport between the Slytherins on which direction the broom should go and it dropped onto the floor before it even moved out of the Great Hall.

"OUCH!!"  
  


"Who is the one controlling this idiot??"

"My leg!!" The Slytherins fell of from the broom, though at a very low level, injured themselves to some extent.

"We just walk back from here." Lucius shouted to the Slytherins. He made his way out of the Great Hall, with Severus and the two cronies following behind.

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"Look, those Slytherins are _walking_!!" James shouted loudly. The Marauders were now drifting above the walking Slytherins who abandoned the broom at the Great Hall.

"WOW!!" Remus replied. "How often do they _walk_??"

"I thought they only _slither_??"

"And the famous grease-ball isn't rolling." Peter added. The Marauders started laughing at their little joke.

"Look who's here." Sirius told the Slytherins who were walking briskly with an arrogant and irritated expression on their faces.

"A BIG DOG!!" Someone shouted. All the Slytherins started running at their fastest speed away from Fang who just started chasing them the moment they began to run.

"RUN!!" Fang ran after the shrunken Slytherins in a very slow motion and stopped to stay close to them as they continued running.

"The saliva is digusting!!" Fang's saliva was raining onto the Slytherins and drenching them from head to toe.

"It stinks!!"

"Shut up and run faster!!"

The Marauders were watching the whole event from the top and laughing at the top of their lungs.

"Those Slyther – hahaha!!" Sirius was pointing and burst into laughter when Severus tripped over a first year and Lucius fell above him, followed up with several students crashing on top of them.

"Get off me!!" Lucius shouted at his fellow Slytherins who quickly got off him and resumed running. Fang was still lurking around, his saliva making puddles on the ground and drenching them smelly.

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"Where are the guys??" Stefanie asked Lily. By now all the broom-less students were transported up to their respective dormitories by the house prefects, leaving the older students out at the common room with their broomstick by their sides.

"No idea, probably taunting the Slytherins." Lily replied, afterall Sirius had told her that the prank was mainly targeted at the Slytherins.

"Shall we check it out??"

"Okay with me." Both girls flew out of the portrait hold instead of climbing out usually. For once the hole was too high for any students to climb over at their current state.

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Fang continued to hover around the Slytherins as they made their way back to their tower in their fastest speed.

"I'm getting bored with that." Sirius told the Marauders. The whole scene of Fang dripping his saliva and attempting to pick them up with his teeth was getting boring.

"What else can we do??"

"Hmm, we can fly out into the darkness??"

"What can we do out there??"

"Erm, just fly??"

"We need an objective."

"Ok, how about getting the owls to disturb them??" Sirius pointed at the group of miniatures running.

"Sounds great." James whistled for his owl but it did not appear. "Strange."

"I think we're too soft, why not we get out to invite them in??"

"That's something interesting to do."

"In what sense??"

"For once our owls are bigger than their masters."

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"AHH!!"

"OWLS!!" Several owls suddenly flew in out of nowhere towards the Slytherins.

"We're nearing!!"

"NOO!!" Sirius' owl picked the tiny Severus up with its beak. "LET ME DOWN!!" With a little struggle, his shirt tore and he landed on top of Lucius.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU TRYING TO DO?!?" Lucius screamed at the top of his lungs. The two guys picked themselves up, tired and totally irritated with the evening happenings and drenched with dog's saliva from head to toe.

"IT'S THAT STUPID OWL!!"

"CAN'T YOU LAND ELSE-" James' owl scooped Lucius up with his powerful claws. "AHHH!!"

"How dare you scold my owl 'stupid'??" Sirius shouted at Severus in a hateful tone. "Get him!!" Sirius' owl scooped Severus up with his claws this time instead of his beak.

Both their owls flew high above the ground and plummeted downwards holding onto both of them.

"AAHHH!!" The two captives screamed at the top of their lungs.

TuDD!!

"Soft landing.." Lucius said in a daze. The two Slytherins were now on Fang's back.

"W-where are we??" Severus was trying to stand but toppled over and fell flat.

"Lucius!! Are you alright??" Narcissa called out from the bottom. Fang appeared irritated having two uninvited on his back and tugging onto his fur.

"Ahh!!" Lucius finally managed stood up and took a clear view of where he was standing on. By now Fangs was shaking a little to ease his back.

"Oh no!!"

"Uh oh!!" Lucius and Severus slid of Fang's back and landed on the ground. Narcissa dashed towards Lucius side.

"Wake up!!" Both the Slytherins were now lying on the floor unconsciously. "GET DUMBLEDORE HERE!!"

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"Did you realize that the prank you played had caused harm on another??" Professor McGonagall said sternly.

The tiny Marauders were now standing at the center of Dumbledore's table. The Headmaster was sitting on his chair while Professor McGonagall and Porky was sitting opposite him.

"I insist proper punishment on these students." Porky demanded. "Fifty points off each of them and a month of detention."

"It's the last day of the semester, Porky." Dumbledore reminded.

"But it's their fault that Mr. Malfoy and Mr. Snape are in the hospital wing right now."

"So what punishment do you have in mind??"

"They can serve their detention a month into their holidays." Porky stipulated. "They deserved that."

"We never have students staying over during the holidays."

"Albus, Porky is right." Professor McGonagall said finally. The Marauders stared at her in horror.

"NO!!"

"Well, since both of you agree, then this four shall stay with us for one more month." Dumbledore said with a smile. "I believe Argus need some manpower to clean the school after so long."

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"You're kidding us!!" Lily said in disbelief.

"No one ever stay in Hogwarts during the break!!"

"We're going to be the first!!" James said sadly.

"This is terrible!!" Sirius said angrily. "How could Maggie do that to us??"

"The Slytherins are probably just pretending to be injured!!" Peter argued.

"It's not like they are crippled or something."

"They're going to be smirking at us tomorrow."

"Did Dumbledore confirm this??" Lily repeated.

"Confirmed." Remus replied. "He even owled our parents to inform them about it."

"This is going to be like hell!!"

"Being Filch's slave for a month!!"

"No one else except us and the staff and ghosts."

"No Slytherins to prank on!!"

"This is totally like hell!!"

"We're staying with you guys." Stefanie said and turned to Lily. "Aren't we, Lils??"

"Yes, we're all staying in Hogwarts." Lily agreed.

"What will dad say if you didn't return??" Sirius told Stefanie.

"I will tell him that I'll stay here with you guys. It's no fun without any one of you."

"I don't have anyone expecting me to return anyway." Lily told them.

"You two really don't have to do this."

"It's alright, really."


	91. Incarceration

**Chapter 90: Incarceration**

"C'mon, we're going to have Hogwarts to ourselves for one whole month!!" Lily said optimistically. It was the last day of the semester and everyone was so excited upon returning, except the Marauders of course.

"Sounds very positive." Remus agreed with a half-hearted laugh.

"We're all going to be together. What different does it makes to be at home and in Hogwarts??" Stefanie pointed out.

"The main difference is we're watching everyone returning and not returning with everyone." James said as he finally managed to drag himself off his bed towards the bathroom. He was behaving the most normally among the four guys. Sirius was hiding in his bed under his comforters, curtains drawn; Remus was sitting by his bedside, looking rather messed up; Peter head popped out from the curtain, hair messy due to the night sleep or lack thereof.

"Just to point out that we're staying as Filch's slaves."

"It's like detention without fun." Sirius said in a muffled voice.

"Boys!! C'mon!!" Lily shouted at the four guys who were still dilly dallying around. It was breakfast time and the sound of students chattering could be heard.

"We're skipping breakfast." James muttered.

"Everyone will think you guys are cowards. Pulling a prank and no courage to face the consequences." Lily told them, annoyed with how childish the boys were behaving.

"Who says we're cowards??"

"No way." Sirius jumped out of his bed and ran straight to the bathroom to wash up.

"That's the Marauders we know and believe in." Stefanie said encouragingly.

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"First in history of Hogwarts." Sirius boasted. The Marauders made a grand entrance into the Great Hall for breakfast. By now everyone had already more or less returned to his or her original size.

"Wow!! It must be really cool to stay in Hogwarts for the holidays." A second year commented. The whole school had already heard of the incident between the Marauders and the Slytherins the night before, and everyone knew the Marauders were confined in school for a month worth of detention.

"Well, we never tried before." James said modestly. "It might be fun."

"What can you guys do in the holidays??"

"Won't it get boring??"

"The Marauders will never be boring anywhere." The Marauders were basking with all the attention the moment they stepped into the Great Hall. Everyone just wanted to know what had happened. The Slytherins, for obvious reasons, did not made it clear why the Marauders were retained in school.

"We want to stay in Hogwarts for the holidays too."

"But McGonagall just didn't allow that."

"To us it's holiday, it's the same for the teachers too." Remus said as a matter-of-fact. The younger Gryffindors were surrounding the Marauders, cornering them since their appearance.

"Can we break some major school rule now so we can all stay in Hogwarts for the break??" Someone suggested.

"That's a great idea!!"

"No, I totally forbid that." James said firmly. "You all have to go home, your family would be expecting your return by today."

"Pr-James, this is the most 'prefect' sounding thing you ever said since you started wearing the badge." Remus said in a complimenting tone. James' prefect badge was so rarely polished that it had several scratches over it and it had lost the shine that it used to have.

"I must lift up my title as a prefect, you see." This comment earned some cheers from the younger female students.

"Ok, we _really_ need to make our way to the table for breakfast." Sirius told the surrounding group. With that, they dispersed and returned to the various spots of the Gryffindor table.

"Thanks!!" Remus added. "Finally." He said in a low voice, which only the few of them could hear. The six teens made their way towards their usual spot in the side of the Gryffindor table and settled down.

"I could just _feel_ those jealous Slytherins staring at us." Sirius commented.

"Well, they _are_ indeed staring at you guys." Lily looked up and saw several Slytherins giving the Marauders a hateful, loathing look.

"Who cares?? Let's eat." James said nonchalantly and started scooping food onto his plate.

"Who were the ones who were too chicken to leave their dorm this morning??" Lily told Stefanie.

"Yeah, those cowards." Stefanie agreed.

"Hey, hey, hey." Sirius defended. "We were just mentally and emotionally tired."

"Yeah, right." Both girls replied.

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"POTTER, BLACK, LUPIN, PETTIGREW!!" A fierce sounding voice could be heard from afar accompanied with a loud meowing sound.

"Who's that??" James asked. The six of them had just bid goodbye to their fellow schoolmates at Hogsmeade station before returning to the Gryffindor tower common room to hide and hibernate.

"Don't know and don't care." Sirius replied, lying lazily on the couch that he had declared his.

"POTTER, BLACK, LUPIN, PETTIGREW!!" The voice came again.

"I've got this feeling that it's Filch." Stefanie commented.

"Who cares??"

"Just pretended we are all asleep and didn't hear him calling." James said in a low voice and all of them shut their eyes and pretended to be sound asleep.

"Mrs. Norris, I swear I could hear voices from the Gryffindor tower." The voice was now directly outside the entrance of Gryffindor tower. The password 'home sweet home' could be heard and the door swung opened.

"WAKE UP!!" The now impatient Argus Filch shouted at the six who looked like they were sound asleep.

"Five more minutes." Remus said and turned over to face the other direction.

"Ssshhh!!" Lily turned around as well.

"POTTER, BLACK, LUPIN, PETTIGREW!!"

"Who's that??" Sirius mumbled in a sleepy tone.

"This is Mr. Filch, the Caretaker, for your information."

"Oh, hello Ar-gie, what's bring you here at this wee hour??" Sirius opened his eyes a little as he mumbled those words before turning the opposite direction.

"I DO NOT TOLERATE SUCH NONSENSE!!" He walked over to pick up Sirius and James by their collars and pulled them up.

"Woah!! Relax, this is a new shirt." Sirius was now wide-awake all the sudden. James was sitting upright as well; both guys exchanged a glance while Filch was pulling Remus and Peter off their couches.

"FOLLOW ME TO THE DUNGEONS NOW!!" He ordered. The four guys picked themselves up to follow Filch. Lily and Stefanie got up as well since the act was over.

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"I can't believe Filch make us clean the dungeons again." Lily complained as she scrubbed the tabletop manually without much enthusiasm. "This is like the tenth time were scrubbing Porky's classroom." It was a week into the detention and from nine to five, they were either cleaning one of the classrooms or doing the gardening.

"This is the job of the elves and not us." James pretended to be scrubbing the floor. In actual fact they had used charms to clean the whole classroom. Filch had confiscated all their wands but he did not know that James could actually perform wandless magic.

"It's not so bad, with magic, of course." Lily grinned. Filch had separated the six of them to clean various parts of the castle to make sure they could not create any chaos at any one place.

"You really gotta be honored to be partner with me for this."

"Well, I don't really need to stay, you know."

"Alright, having regrets??"

"No regrets. There won't be much thing I can do out there anyway."

"Sorry to remind you."

"Nah, I've already passed the sad phrase. It's ok."

"Good to hear that."

"So, what do you think about the Hogwarts that lack the population??"

"Well, it's a little too silent for comfort."

"Not to mention that Filch made us prepare our own meals!!"

"The house elves won't disobey him either. But at least we had fun cooking our own dinner, with magic."

"Yeah, pretty enjoyable considering I've never had the need to step into the kitchen to cook in my whole life."

"You're born with a golden spoon in your mouth."

"Yeah, you're the chef, huh."

"At least I know how to cook some muggle stuffs."

"The instant noodles you prepared for lunch was pretty interesting."

"It's a simple muggle dish."

"I've never eaten that before."

"Ok, you want that for dinner again??"

"Not today, maybe tomorrow."

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"Filch must have been blind to put us as a group." Remus whispered to Stefanie's ear. Both of them were assigned to clean out the dormitories for the four houses.

"Why did you say that??"

"He has given us the chance to hanky-panky in here."

"Don't try to do anything."

"I'm a perfect gentleman, why would I do anything to my darling??"

"That sounds so egoistic!!" Stefanie gave Remus a gentle pinch on his nose.

"That's what a Marauder will say."

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"Why am I stuck with this dirty work?!?" Sirius complained. Filch was patrolling, making sure the six of them were doing their work properly.

"Prongs and Lily must be the luckiest."

"I know what you mean." Sirius scrubbed the ground with such force that he nearly broke the brush. Both he and Peter were assigned to scrub the corridors of the entire school and it was pure torture.

"There are like only that few classrooms."

"Prefects sure get better treatments."

"And there are like million of corridors around."

"Pure torture."

"Without magic some more!!"

"Prongs, where are you when we need you??"

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"What's that??" The other four joined Lily and James at the kitchen after their massive school cleaning session. "A letter from mum."

"You should be glad that it wasn't a howler." Remus told him. It was a strange thing that these pranksters had actually not received a howler all their life while most of the other students had already gotten at least one somehow.

"Well, our parents are understanding enough to know we need people like us here." Sirius boasted and started digging for some food around the kitchens.

"My parents hasn't replied my letter to them, I supposed they are not in the country." Remus commented as he joined Sirius in the search for food.

"Shall we get started or we probably just has to sit around for the whole evening??" Lily asked.

"And starved to death in Hogwarts kitchens??" Sirius joked.

"What a joke." Stefanie commented. "There are like countless amount of food here."

"Let's get started then." Peter suggested.

"This is supposed to be a horrible torture but I begin to find myself enjoying the whole thing." James admitted.

"It's pretty fun having the whole Hogwarts to ourselves." Sirius agreed.

"Don't tell me you guys are thinking of staying here for the whole of three months??" Remus asked.

"I did think of that, but can't leave my mum alone at home." James said. "She's not scolding me or whatsoever but I can sense she's feeling quite lonely without us when she's off work."

"How about we ask her to join us in Hogwarts??" Sirius suggested. "We can ask my dad, Moony's and Wormtail's parents, Bell-"

"Did I happen to hear someone mentioning _Bell_??" James asked cheekily.

"I thought I heard that too." Remus played along.

"Oh my, I thought my ears are playing tricks on me." Lily added, grinning.

"I thought I was the only one who heard that." Stefanie commented. By now a slight blush already crept upon Sirius' face.

"She's our friend, so naturally I would think of her." Sirius denied.

"Is that so??" James raised his brows. "I know you too well, Padfoot."

"Isn't anyone hungry??" Sirius asked, ignoring the previous comments.

"Let's get started." Peter repeated.

"Ok, so where's the potatoes??" Stefanie asked and gave her wand a wave to start the fire.

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"Keeping them in Hogwarts might be the safest thing to do."

"But how long can we keep them here??"

"As long as we can. It's not like you don't know that Voldemort is searching for them."

"I understand that they will be safer in our hands, but still-"

"We just have to prepare them for the worst."

"Their families are still out there."

"And Arabella Figg is still out there."

"Do you know something??"

"I've spies who told me that Voldemort is now tracking down the six of them."

"So that means Arabella is in danger."

"Not so, afterall she lost her powers."

"Doesn't that endanger her even more??"

"Voldemort knows how to play mind games. Killing Arabella won't do him good. He would rather use her to lure the rest out."

"So what can we do now??"

"Remind them to practice their powers."

"That's all??"

"The rest are beyond our control."

"We really need to do something soon."

"I understand, just received news of another two muggle families became Voldemort's victims."

"We ought to gather them here."

"Not so soon, give them a chance to have some fun while they still can."


	92. Unexpected

**Chapter 91: Unexpected**

"Actually I daresay I'm enjoying this detention." James admitted. It was the second weekend of the detention and the group was allowed to have their free time for the whole day.

"Prongs, are you sick with the Prefects fever??" Sirius said in horror. "We haven't played a prank in fourteen days!!"

"I don't know, but it did seems kind of fun doing the school cleaning and cooking our own meals." Remus agreed.

"You two can go live with the house elves." Sirius said in disbelief that his two pranking kakis were actually happy when they had absolutely no one to prank on.

"It isn't that bad cleaning the school, doing some gardening, and having fun in the kitchens during meal."

"We really need to do something more exciting than this."

"I guess I have enough excitement in the school semester, and a change like this is actually rather refreshing."

"Prongs, Moony, are you two ok??" Sirius started shaking them vigorously.

"Woah, Padfoot calm down!!" James struggled a little to release himself from Sirius shaking.

"Ok, I'm going nuts then." Sirius sat down and slumped on the armchair. "And we're actually happy staying indoors."

"This is so unlike the normal us."

"But it isn't all that bad. Those cleaning tire us out."

"It had been quite some time since we last hang around having nothing to do or worry about."

"This kind of feeling won't last very long."

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"Professor??" James called out skeptically. Lily and James were asked to see Dumbledore for some reason or other.

"There you are." Both of them gave Dumbledore a blank look. He was a little eccentric, but this was pretty much the extent.

"Can we know why did you want us for??" James asked politely.

"Just something to discuss with you two." Dumbledore turned around from his seat. "Take a seat first, it might be quite a long discussion."

"Ok." They exchanged a questioning look and sat down opposite Dumbledore.

"I don't know if you're aware that why I made you all stay in Hogwarts for."

"Because we broke a major school rule, I supposed."

"More than that, in fact."

"Huh??"

"It's for your safety." Both of them kept very still to hear what Dumbledore was about to tell them. "Voldemort is out looking for you two in particular. I do not know why."

"But-"

"I don't know what could be the reason, and I'm afraid that he might have spies among ourselves."

"Who could be our spy??"

"It could be anyone. Maybe even Sirius or Remus."

"No way, I trust them with my life."

"I don't mean they serve Voldemort or something. He has the power that most people might not know, I'm saying that he might have manipulated them or perhaps enter their thoughts, if you know what I mean."

"That means they became Voldemort's victim unconsciously."

"That's right, I'm sure they are great friends. But I believed that Voldemort is not able to get you two directly and he's trying from the friends around you."

"Oh, but I know Stef, or anyone of them, will never betray us."

"I understand your dilemma. They are like friends for years and moreover you all have a special bonding. I'm not suspecting Peter or anyone of them but this should serve as a warning to you two. And I trust both of you not to tell them about today's meeting."

"O-ok."

"Basically you two are in greater danger than all of them out there adds together." Dumbledore's voice was sounding grimmer as he spoke. "He is targeting at you two for a reason even I'm not aware. I believe that there's something you two have in common that could defeat him or something, though I'm not sure what it could be."

"But the prophecy, or so it was said, that requires the seven of us, or at least six for now, to defeat him."

"That's right."

"So Sirius, Remus, Stef and Bell can't be the traitor."

"Then Peter??"

"I don't think so, he hasn't done anything to us though we were sharing the same dorm for six years. I mean if he really wants to kill us, he could have done it without any trouble."

"If he did it, everyone would know it's him."

"And he too timid to do such stuffs. I trust him that he won't be the one who betray us. Whenever we've meeting, he isn't even there. Besides we never display or talk about our powers in front of him."

"Well, I'm unsure of this whole thing myself. But just a word of warning, don't trust anyone too much, not even your closest friends."

"That's so-"

"It's for your own good. I'm more worried about you two."

"So the conclusion is Voldemort is trying to kill the two of us for some unknown reason."

"That's what we believe. Otherwise he wouldn't have tried to capture you two the last time."

"The worst thing is that now our closest friends could be traitors, nothing can get worst than what's already is."

"I'm sorry to say that too. But take it as a warning." Dumbledore looked as troubled as the two of them. "I'll call you two up if anything happens."

"Goodbye Professor." Both of them left the office, heavy hearted as they made their way back to the Charms classroom to do further cleaning.  
  


"I can't believe it." Lily said, keeping her voice low.

"Neither can I." James replied gloomily. "Walls have ears. We talk another time about this, okay??"

Lily did not manage a reply even for the facts she just heard were too much to bear for a sixteen-year-old. Both of them just walked in silence back to the Charms corridor.

"Prongs!! Lily!!" A familiar male voice called out and echoed in the corridor. The two gloomy-faced teens exchanged a look and turned around in a new expression.

"What are you two doing here??" James asked brightly.

"Why are you two looking so happy??"

"Nothing."

"Did you two-" Sirius asked cheekily.

"Nothing of that sort." James and Lily exchanged a look.

"We were wondering what Sirius could be doing, I mean I've never even seen you doing any proper cleaning before and the sight of you scrubbing the floors and walls must be quite interesting."

"Well, without magic, what can you expect??"

"Look at my hands, all wrinkled up." Sirius raised his hands for them to take a look.

"Yeah, and you need some moisturizing hand cream." Lily added with a tone of joking sarcasm.

"I don't mind that. You have any??"

"In my dorm."

"Can I borrow some later??" All four of them burst out laughing at Sirius' vanity.

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"Time really flies, one more week and we're going to head home." Stefanie said enthusiastically. They had already spent three weeks of their break in Hogwarts serving the Marauders' detention together. It was Friday and they were going to have a weekend of rest and relax, free from Filch's instructions.

"And the fun had just started." Sirius pouted a little.

"Who was the one who said that no pranks means no fun??" James teased.

"Who?? Who??" Sirius pretended. The group just laughed at the typical Sirius.

"Never mind about that. Let's just enjoy this scrumptious dinner." Remus laughed. There were several plates of food in front of them.

"What makes you think they would taste good??" Lily said skeptically. The group who had not much idea on cooking just threw all sorts of food together to come up with some sort of strange concoctions.

"This," Sirius pointed, "is called the Meat-lovers." Sirius helped himself to a piece of meat. It was a mixture of chicken, pork, beef, lamb, and whatever sort of meat they could find.

"And this," James said, "Shall be the Garden of Eden." The plate of mixed vegetables consisted of a pile of broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, corns, and peas, with some other types of veggies that made up a colorful mini-mountain.

"Then this??" Lily pointed a plate of pasta consisting fusilli, penne, linguine, spaghetti and all sorts of strange shapes.

"We shall name it the – Pasta." Sirius announced.

"That sounds so _original_."

"Who cares anyway, food is all meant to be in my stomach."

"Sounds like cannibal."

"That's such an _awesome_ compliment!!"

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"BELL!!"

"AAHHHH!!" Lily and Stefanie ran towards the entrance of Gryffindor common room to give the person who just entered a big group bear hug.

"Woah, Lils, Stef, cool down." Arabella said laughing at the two over-expressive girls.

"You're back!!"

"Yeah!! For a week!!"

"Why didn't you inform us you're returning on your last letter??"

"I didn't know. Dumbledore just owled me earlier today and asked if I would like to stay over at Hogwarts for a week since you guys were behaving exceptionally well for detention."

"That's so wonderful!! It's just too great to see you!!"

"We were planning to call you over during the break, but well, this detention."

"I've heard from Lils and Stef about what you guys had done to earn this, and I must say, you guys deserved it."

"How can you be against us?? It's so obvious that Malfoy and Snape are over exaggerating on their injuries."

"But evidences are against you unfortunately."

"Let's not talk about the unhappy stuffs. Time for celebration, with food."

"Sirius!! We just ate our dinner, like one hour ago??"

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"Can't believe we're doing this again, weekend passed so quickly." Lily commented as she scrubbed the table in the Transfiguration classroom.

"Well, Bell's back and Peter's gone, all happened over the weekend." Arabella gave a surprise appearance on Saturday afternoon while Peter left the evening before due to some family problems, or so he said.

"And we had so much fun again with Bell around."

"And now Bell is helping Sirius with the cleaning of corridors."

"He probably will enjoy it more than usual."

"Not that Peter was a bad companion, but to Sirius, Bell would be more preferred."

"What do you think they could be doing right now??"

"I don't know. I'm not Sirius."

"They're probably having fun."

"Perhaps."

"ARE YOU TWO DOING YOUR WORK??" Filch popped by the classroom for the third spot check of the day. "Look at all the dust here!!" He pointed at the dust and dirt free table, which had already been cleaned and scrubbed with magic.

"Ok, be cleaning it right away." James took the brush he was holding and started cleaning the table Filch was pointing. With a slightly satisfied look, he left the classroom once again.

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"Cleaning had never been more enjoyable." Sirius told his new partner in detention.

"Why is that so??"

"I seldom serve my detentions with pretty babes."

"Oooo. That's such a compliment." Arabella rolled her eyes.

"Of course it's meant to be a compliment, just for this pretty young lady here."

"That is just so interesting."

"Miss Figg here is always so interesting."

"Don't try sweet talking me, it just doesn't work."

"You mean it really didn't or you just pretend that it didn't??"

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"Professor, is something wrong??" Sirius asked Dumbledore. The six of them were called to his office on their last second day of their month-long detention.

"I don't know if you all know the main reason why I agreed to let you few to serve your detention into the break."

"Because our initial harmless prank and caused injuries on the Slytherins??" Remus answered.

"That's why Porky insisted on this detention." Dumbledore gave them a smile. "The other reason is I'm trying to protect you from Voldemort as long as possible, though I know somehow or rather he would get you if he really want to." They gave a short gasp at that comment.

"So Professor, what do you have in mind that we should do??"

"I can let you return home tomorrow, but promise me that you'll stay out of unnecessary trouble. I've received news that a few more student families had became victims to Voldemort." Dumbledore's tone was grim. "But if you all choose to stay in Hogwarts, Minerva and I are alright with that, and I'm sure Filch wouldn't mind some extra help either." The six of them exchanged looks with one another, not knowing which to choose.

"You can tell me you decision tomorrow. Making an arrangement for you all to return is not difficult at all."


	93. Just Resting

**Chapter 92: Just Resting**

"So what are we going to do??" Sirius asked the group. They had all gathered at the Gryffindor common room after the major meeting with Dumbledore.

"For our safety, we should stay. But our families-"

"I know, we can't possibly get all of them in either."

"What would be the best plan for this??"

"Get rid of Voldemort."

"Easier to say than doing it."

"I believe the time has yet to come for his defeat. Afterall he's growing stronger by the day."

"I really can't take it when everyone out there is expose to the danger, while we, protected by Dumbledore."

"No use getting all worked up either. We are too powerless to do anything."

"There must be something, something we can do."

"The main problem is that we haven't figure out what is that 'something'."

"Guys, no use arguing now. It doesn't help either. We're all anxious and everything, but there's really nothing wise we can do. I suggest we listen to Dumbledore and stay in Hogwarts for this break, this is probably the last time we all would be staying here together, protected from the cruel reality."

"Bell is right, we're going to graduate next year and then out to face Voldemort."

"So the final decision is we're all staying till the school semester starts."

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"Yes, we all decided to stay." James repeated. After weighing out the pros and cons, they finally decided to stay in Hogwarts until the next school year.

"I guess I can make all the necessary arrangements." Professor McGonagall said approvingly.

"That shall be it then." Dumbledore gave them a wink behind his half-moon spectacles.

"Thank you Professors."

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"I can't believe we're going to be _stuck_ here for three months."

"You're not using the right word, Padfoot. You agreed to stay here _voluntarily_ when we had our discussion."

"I'm just kidding. Have you lost your sense of humor when you were having your prefect fever a few weeks back??"

"Oh Padfoot, that's such a _funny_ joke." Remus said jokingly.

"I know I'm a funny guy."

"I guess you didn't catch my joke."

"Huh??"

"Sirius can be so dense sometimes."

"Me dense??"

"Yeah, you??"

"Me what??"

"Dense??"

"What dense??"

"You're dense??"

"I'm dense??"

"That's right??"

"What's right??'

"You're right saying you're dense??"

"Who's not right saying I'm dense??'

"Oh, never mind."

"I mind."

"I don't"

"Spare me."

"Why should I??"

"Why shouldn't you??"

"Shouldn't me what??'

"You should spare me."

"But you said I shouldn't."

"I said spare me."

"No, you said shouldn't."

"Someone save me."

"No one gonna save you."

"Lils??"

"Lils, don't save her."

"Stef."

"Be a good girl Stef."

"What??"

"Save me from his lame conversation."

"Only I can save you."

"Yeah, right."

"What's right??"

"I'm not saying you're right."

"I know I'm always right."

"Ahh!! I can't take it!!"

"Yes, you can."

"No, I can't."

"What can't you??"

"I can't take your lame conversation anymore."

"I know you're loving it."

"Very funny."

"You already said I'm funny."

"No, you said you're funny yourself."

"No, you just said I'm funny again."

"Don't put words into my mouth."

"You let words out from your mouth."

"That's because you put them into mine."

"How do I put words into your mouth??"

"You said it."

"I didn't say anything."

"I'm not going to continue this lame conversation."

"You'll continue it." Sirius said definitely. The other four just sat by the side watching Sirius and Arabella doing their usual bickering, feeling a sense of déjà vu.

"Bell, how can you lose to Sirius??"

"I didn't. He's just being lame."

"You two are very entertaining, please continue." Remus added encouragingly.

"No thanks, Remus, you can take my place."

"It won't be as entertaining if I'm in your place, for Sirius can never beat an argument with me."

"Moony, I never had any argument with you."

"You did."

"Did I??"

"Remember that potion??"

"Ooh, I nearly forgot."

"You already forgot."

"Padfoot, this doesn't work on me."

"The Black's charm works on everyone." All of them responded with a loud 'argh' and started laughing at their own synchrony.

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"It's like so fast we're in the middle of our break." Lily commented. The three girls were staying at their sixth year dormitory, and Arabella was back at her original position.

"This few weeks here are probably the best time ever since I left Hogwarts."

"Do you know the guilt of me causing you to leave Hogwarts had never left me??"

"Oh, Lils. Don't think that way. All these are predestined."

"I know, but I just can't help feeling guilty over it."

"That's a normal feeling but don't brood over it too much. It will just tire you out mentally."

"That's right. And you guys need to be in tip-top condition. The magical community needs you."

"Easier said than done."

"Been so many years and we have barely any idea how to get rid of him."

"We can't give up."

"I know, but just that it's like something we ought to do but can't do."

"This can be quite frustrating."

"I guess we better have a good rest than to think about all these, at least for now."

"We're like a bunch of sheltered kids, protected away from all dangers out there by the walls of Hogwarts."

"We'll be out there facing Voldemort soon enough. One year isn't that long."

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"Tell us what did you and Bell doing during the supposedly detention??" James sat on Sirius' stomach and pinned him down on the floor.

"Prongs stop acting so immature by sitting on my eight packs." Sirius commented.

"Who's the immature one here??"

"You, six packs??"

"Eight packs."

"Don't think we don't know."

"One.. Two.. I count for you but our dear old love-struck Prongsie Jamesie is blocking them."

"Paddy-footy, once you answer my question I'll get up."

"But what if I don't??"

"Then I'll just sit forever."

"I know you too well, you won't sit forever."

"He rather spend his forever with Lily than to sit on your _ahem_ packs."

"What _ahem_ packs??"

"It's just an unknown figure."

"Ahem doesn't mean anything. I just told you I've eight packs, saw them in the mirror this morning."

"Moony, did Bell did something to his mind when she left Hogwarts the last time??"

"I don't know but I felt that she must have done something."

"Same sentiments exactly."

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"This is my brilliant creation."

"You haven't even taste it, how do you know that it's brilliant??"

"Just look at it and you know it's going to taste great!!" James was holding his plate of stir-fried food, which consisted of some mixture of meat and veggies.

"Eh, it looks _colorful_." Lily commented at the blended green, yellow, orange, red and brown in the plate.

"It has variety." Remus raised his brows. There was broccoli and leafy veggies as well as some meat protruding outwards messily.

"Hmm, looks a little like your hairstyle." Sirius added. The food was roughly stirred and mixed together and it looked oddly out of style on the silver plate.

"I take all of that as compliments, regardless whether are they meant to be."

"They can be criticisms too."

"Constructive ones definitely."

"At least our potter prince finally learned to step into the kitchen to cook, to put it mildly."

"I know I have the talent in cooking hidden somewhere."

"Why don't we just give it a try??" The rest helped with a piece of meat and veggie from James' creation.

"Hmm.."

"How is it??"

"It taste.. ok??" Lily raised her eyebrows as she chewed the food.

"Too salty."

"Not too bad."

"Too bland."

"Alright."

"So is it too salty or too bland??"

"A bit of both."

"How to be salty and bland at the same time."

"Guess you didn't mix them properly."

"Try it yourself." James took a big spoonful of his own creation. "Hmm.. I think it tastes great!!"

"Yeah, that's a consolation to yourself because you cooked it."

"I really think it's not too bad."

"Actually it's ok, still have room for improvement, of course."

"So from now, I guess I cook a dish a day."

"I thought you've always been cooking a dish a day??"

"But that time the girls helped me with most of the stuffs, I did this single-handedly."

"Shall we give our Prongsie a round of applause??" Sirius started clapping loudly. The house-elves who were in the kitchens started clapping too.

"Thank you everyone for your support!!" James gave several bows.

"James' ego is inflating again."

"The guys' ego seems to be constantly enlarging and never deflating."


	94. Good Times

**Chapter 93: Good Times**

"Someone tell me I'm dreaming." Sirius gave himself a pinch on his forearm. It was like the very final week of their three months break and in the following week, all the students would be returning and lessons would resume.

"You're not dreaming." James added monotonously. James' mother, Stefanie's father and Remus' parents had dropped by Hogwarts to see their kids and spent a week in Hogwarts with Dumbledore's kind hospitality. They had just returned earlier today with promises of frequent owl posts. Arabella's mother had been in Hogwarts all the while since she was the current Defense Against Dark Arts teacher.

"For once, I'm not looking forward for lessons to start." Lily tone was not exactly excited, to put it mildly. They simply had too much fun in that few school-less weeks and just serving their prolonged detention, which they did it almost gladly.

"Neither am I." Arabella said miserably. "It means that I'm going to be separated from you all again and gotta get back to my muggle orphanage."

"I've an idea how we can lengthen our break." Remus suggested.

"What??" The rest turned to look at him with a hopeful expression.

"Let's travel back to time for a month." Remus stated. "We can just play because for the whole while we're too busy serving detentions during schooling hours. Perhaps this time we can hang out at Hogsmeade or something."

"A rational side of me will say that a month back would be too long. How about we just return for a week instead?? And if we still hasn't had enough we can adjust accordingly."

"Not too many times of course."

"Definitely, otherwise we would look like a century old to be in Hogwarts seventh year."

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"This is so heavenly." Lily sipped a little of her butterbeer. The sextet had returned back in time with Remus' supernatural ability.

"Look at that six of us, suffering back in Hogwarts." Sirius joked. "Let me see, at this time last week, I think I was cleaning the seventh floor corridors." The group laughed at his little joke.

"I'm starting to love this feeling." Arabella commented. "Being in the magical community is simply superb."

"Let's not stay too long around here. I think there's some carnival going on at the central."

"We should get some stock up from Honeydukes too."

"We can camp overnight in the tunnel between Honeydukes and Hogwarts on our final night. In that case we don't need to worry about not being back on time."

"So shall we plan our itinerary before we start heading off??"

"Day one, we shall spend time going around Hogsmeade."

"Day two, we shall explore Hogsmeade."

"Yeah, and day three, we shall start entering shops in Hogsmeade."

"Very funny."

"Back to topic, what shall be the plan??"

"We just head over to the carnival today, then spend the night in the inn. Not too safe to be out in the nights lately."

"I agree with Stef."

"Then tomorrow we shall go somewhere nice to eat and play. How about the bar down at the village central?? It seems rather happening."

"Yeah, then the day after we should do some pre-school shopping."

"At least this year we need not worry about books and potion ingredients."

"We need not worry about anything because we're not supposed to be shopping outside Hogwarts at all."

"Oh yeah, nearly forgot we're forbidden out here."

"So we can just shop for new broomsticks and clothes, huh??"

"Then day four??"

"We can apparate to the nearby beach for a break??"

"Great idea, not too crowd too."

"Then the day after we can head down to Diagon Alley, just shop around for a few hours."

"I simply miss the quidditch shop there."

"I agree with you. The mag showed the newest broomstick and only QSS has it up for display."

"Ok, so on Saturday we shall just loiter around before heading down to the tunnel for our overnight camp."

"Ok, that settles everything."

"By the way, when's the next full moon??"

"A week after lessons resume." Remus replied. The other Marauders had not been able to join Remus for his last three transformations because if any students were missing, it was too obvious. And now, the Marauders were pretty much looking forward for their next exploration coming up.

"May I have your attention please??" Sirius announced.

"What??"

"Please excuse Miss Figg and I for the afternoon."

"Huh??"

"What??" Arabella was surprised too.

"I would like to invite this gorgeous lady for a date." Sirius took Arabella's hand, which made everyone burst into laughter. "Just the two of us."

"Excuse me, but Mr. Black, when did I agree to go on a date with you??"

"Now??"

"C'mon Bell, just go ahead."

"But-"

"It's ok, we'll see you tonight." Lily assured and both she and Stefanie gave her a gentle shove so she would leave her seat.

"Thank you, my audience." Sirius bowed at the people by the table.

"Have fun."

"See ya." Sirius and Arabella left the group and went off for their date outside the Three Broomsticks.

"So much for going to the carnival together." Stefanie teased.

"I guess that's normal, afterall Bell isn't here all the time."

"I supposed so. So are we going together or you two are planning on your own solo date??" James asked.

"Stef?? Do you wanna go together or the two of us??" Remus asked causally, giving Stefanie a look.

"Well, it would be nice that we can spend some quality time together, just the two of us." Her not-so-innocent statement earned a glare from Lily.

"Not you too." Lily groaned.

"C'mon dearie, let's get going before it's getting dark." Remus laughed as he stood up.

"Remmy dearie, it's only the beginning of noon." Stefanie added jokingly.

"I see you guys tonight back in the inn then." Remus shot James a look.

"What's wrong with you guys??"

"Nothing, just need some couple time, you see." Remus grinned.

"See ya later."

"Bye." Remus and Stefanie left the Three Broomsticks, holding hands and laughing at their joke as they walked out.

"Looks like left us again." James commented.

"Yeah, all of them are doing the couple-ly stuffs." Lily shrugged.

"We can do couple-ly stuffs if you want too."

"Nah, thanks for the offer."

"So what do you wanna do now??"

"I seriously don't have much clue. But I guess they probably head over to the carnival, wanna go there??"

"Ok with me, but I don't think any of them are at the carnival."

"Why not??"

"Given what I understand about that two, I think they have a different way of spending the afternoon."

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"Haven't exactly have a chance to chat with you guys in the last couple of days." Lily commented. The three girls lain comfortably on the mat as they tanned themselves under the hot afternoon sun.

"Well, isn't James a good company??" Arabella teased.

"He's ok, but it's different with you gals."

"Well, Sirius had gotten a little more matured since I last seen him."

"That guy had gotten insane since you left Hogwarts. You should have seen his outrageous actions."

"He told me some of them actually. That's Sirius, always doing something out of this world."

"Been wanting to ask you, where did you guys went after leaving Three Broomsticks that day??"

"Eh.." Stefanie sat up and applied any coat of sun-block over her face and body.

"Hmm..??" Arabella turned and laid on her stomach as she tanned her back, using the damp towel to cover her hair and face.

"I went to the Shack." Stefanie admitted.

"The tunnel in Honeydukes."

"So much for suggesting going to the carnival."

"Did you go there??"

"Yeah, went with _James_ if that's what you two wanna hear."

"I knew it, and you had a great time too. Look at your love-struck smile when we saw you in the room that night."

"Still have the cheek to reprimand me when I waited for an hour before anyone return."

"We're just having too much fun, you see."

"At least today I wouldn't be seeing only James' face for the whole day."

"I thought you enjoyed it??"

"I didn't say I enjoyed that. I only said he's ok."

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"Padfoot!! Quit drooling and play properly." James scolded his buddy who was barely concentrating on their beach volleyball game.

"Can't help it. Too many bikini babes around." Sirius smiled and waved at a group of girls who just walked passed, which made them giggled.

"None of them are pretty anyway." James said, scanning the crowd for skimpily dressed girls.

"Lily is the prettiest. We know." Remus teased.

"Wanna join us for a game??" Some girls approached the three of them.

"Thanks but our girlfriends are over there." Remus rejected them politely because he had expected James and Sirius to lose their minds in front of these surfer babes.

"Never mind then."

"Whose girlfriends are there??" Sirius questioned.

"Ours."  
  


"Stef is yours. But we both are still single."

"Don't think I don't know that you like Bell."

"Ya, and the whole world know that Prongs like Lily."

"Me again??"

"Prongs, you've been staring at Lily since she appeared in the orange bikini and yellow surf shorts."

"I didn't."

"Stubborn fella."

"I don't feel like playing anymore, shall we go for a dip instead??"

"Alright."

"Let's compete see who reaches the floating platform first."

"You're on." The three guys ran into the water and started swimming freestyle towards the wooden platform about fifty meters away from the shoreline.

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"I'm feeling a sense of déjà vu." The group had gathered after their relaxing week at Hogsmeade. It was the final Saturday before lessons starting the day after tomorrow. Right now they were making their way to Honeydukes before it closed for the day.

"The typical sense for foreboding that lessons is starting."

"Right on target."

"That's normal."

"Our Padfoot is returning to his normal sanity??"

"Bell, you've gotta teach us your secret method of regaining his sanity."

"Well, give him occasional kisses will do." Arabella grinned.

"Eeww, do you have any better suggestion that we can do??"

"I wouldn't want to kiss him for a million galleons."

"Thanks but I don't like the idea of a guy kissing me. It just drive me nuts."

"It's difficult imagining James and Sirius kissing."

"You can't imagine that because that's never going to happen."

"Thank goodness. I'm starting to afraid James might kiss me when Lily isn't around."

"Seriously, I can assure you that as long as I'm a man, I'm not going to kiss you at all."

"Good. I like that man."

"That comment sounds a little gay."

"You're being oversensitive."

"Hey, grab some sweets before returning." Remus reminded. The group dispersed inside Honeydukes to get whatever sweets they felt like stocking up before their next trip to Hogsmeade.

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"When we wake up from this little nap, we ought to have traveled back time."

"Your timing better be accurate."

"You can trust me."  
  


"Padfoot, I really don't like the sound of those words coming out from your mouth."

"Would you like to hear them coming out from my anus instead??"

"NO!!"

Pppppprrrrruuuuuutttttt!!

"Argh!!"  
  


"Eeww!!" Lily quickly muttered a charm to get rid of the smelly German gas that filled the tunnel several seconds ago.

"Thanks Lils."

"SIRIUS!!"

"Did you hear my anus saying 'you can trust me'??"

"I can tell you I absolutely do not wish to hear it again."

"Well, I don't think it can say anything at the moment. Wait till the feeling come back."

"I hope the feeling won't come back too soon."


	95. Newfound Relatives

**Chapter 94: Newfound Relatives**

"Let's do it."

"A little too last minutes."

"Twelve hours isn't that short."

"Alright, alright."

"Make it quick."

"It will be great."

"It's always good."

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_I'm neither a girl nor a boy,_

_I'm just a hat, black and coy._

_I may not look friendly,_

_I may not be sunny._

_But I am definitely brainy,_

_More than all you know._

_For I'm the Hogwarts Sorting Hat,_

_Created by our four founders._

_Gryffindor, whose bravery was known,_

_For all his actions shown._

_Ravenclaw, where the wise belong,_

_Knew all about the weak and strong._

_Hufflepuff, the most loyal of all,_

_Whose patience never fall._

_Slytherins, where the ambitious gather,_

_Birds of feathers flock together._

_Just put me on,_

_And you're on the way,_

_To find the house where you belong._

Everyone in the Great Hall applauded loudly and cheered at the Sorting Hat. Professor McGonagall stood up and about to make her speech but the Sorting Hat continued on.

_Sorry to disappoint you,_

_But I'm not done with my speech yet._

_This following was by request,_

_From four Hogwarts legends._

_James Potter, the mastermind among them,_

_Lead the Marauders far beyond eating ham._

_Sirius Black, whose charm is dazzling,_

_Attracts everyone till downpour become drizzling._

_Remus Lupin, rational and calm,_

_Cool outlook made him feel like the palms._

_Peter Pettigrew, out of the nutshell,_

_Into the world of seashells._

_The Marauders form the legend of prankster,_

_Spread far beyond Hogwarts history._

_For when the four come together,_

_There's no peace altogether._

The applause got even louder this time, with 'oohs' and 'aahs' from the crowd, cheering the Marauders on. The four guys stood up on their seats and bowed wildly.

"Thank you for the poem." Professor McGonagall announced after making sure the Sorting Hat had finished its speech. The cheers and applause died down and silence filled the hall. "Now, we can proceed on with the sorting."

"That's a pretty good speech." Lily praised. All the students had returned and once again, it was the Sorting Ceremony.

"To be frank, only part two was created by us." James admitted. "Ouch." Sirius nudged him a little.

"That's our secret. Everyone will believe the entire speech was our creation."

"Okay, okay." James raised his hands to defend himself.

"Black, Andromeda"

"Is that first year your relative??" Remus asked the twins who turned around when they heard the surname, Black, being announced.

"Erm.. I don't remember." Sirius looked rather confused at the girl who was sitting on the stool.

"GRYFFINDOR!!" The Sorting Hat yelled and all of them cheered. She was the first to be sorted to Gryffindor among the first years.

"I think she's our cousin or something." Stefanie suggested. They barely had any contact with their own family members.

"We can ask her later or tomorrow." The group of six looked at the pretty brown-haired girl sitting at the front end of the Gryffindor table talking to some second years.

"Potter, Kate."

"Don't tell me that's your cousin too." Sirius suggested.

"Kate, hmm, where did I hear that name before??" James tried to remember if he had any cousins by the name of Kate. "I don't quite remember actually."

"GRYFFINDOR!!" The black-haired girl bounced down and joined the Gryffindor table. She waved at the group when she caught sight of them before joining the other first year.

"I think she knows you." Peter suggested.

"Looks like it. People don't wave at you for no reason." James said.

"You two sure have a large family to miss knowing your relatives." Remus joked.

"Tongs, Ted."

The Sorting Ceremony continued while the group was discussing the possible identities of the young Black and Potter. Apparently many others in the Hall were thinking along the same line.

"Weasley, Alex."

"Looks like this is going to be an interesting year." James grinned. The last two guys who were sorted into Gryffindor were having some sort of secret discussion at the end of the table.

"Why did you say that??" Lily asked.

"That two guys there have the mischievous look." Remus guessed and the girls laughed at his absurd observation.

"I can't see them looking mischievous." Stefanie raised her brows. "More like they seems fascinated by Hogwarts." The food just appeared on the table after Dumbledore's speech and 'wows' could be heard from the first years who found that fascinating.

"They have the look that we used to have when we're up to something." Sirius said before digging into his dinner feast.

"The Head Boy and Girl will have a tough time this year." Stefanie gave James and Lily a look. The rest laughed along, with their mouth full.

"What makes you think we'll be the Head Boy and Girl??" James asked in between mouthfuls.

"I didn't say that."

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"This year our Head Boy and Girl will be James Potter and Lily Evans." Dumbledore announced. James and Lily exchanged a confused look before being shoved up by the students beside them. Nearly everyone applauded after the announcement, besides the Slytherins, for obvious reasons.

"Stef, how did you know??" Lily asked her friend when she regained her sitting position while Dumbledore continued with his post-dinner speech.

"I guessed that." Stefanie grinned and exchanged a wink with Remus.

"I saw that." James placed his arm around Remus' shoulders.

"So now the Prefects will lead the students back to the respective Towers." Everyone stood up and ready to return to their new dormitories after Dumbledore's announcement.

"Uncle James." A girl called out among the crowd.

"This way." James raised his right hand to gather the attention of the younger Gryffindor students. The house prefects kept order before the group moved out of the Hall and headed towards the Gryffindor tower.

"Uncle James Potter." The girl called out again. Some of the students giggled and laughed at the joke.

"James, I think someone is calling you." Lily tried very hard not to burst out laughing.

"I heard that. But I'm not responding because I'm not an uncle." James ignored and continued walking with the fellow Gryffindors behind. Sirius, Remus, Stefanie and Peter were behind all the students chatting among themselves and apparently laughing at something funny.

"Hey uncle." The girl came forward and pat James' arm.

"Don't call me uncle." James told the girl. "I'm not that old."

"You're _my_ uncle." The girl insisted.

"Who are you??" James asked, frowning a little.

"Kate Potter." The girl replied, she tried to keep up her pace with James.

"Kate Potter??" Now James was really mystified about his newfound relative.

"Your niece." Kate pouted a little. "My father is your cousin. Your father and my father are brothers." She explained a little.

"Huh??" James was still puzzled.

"Never mind. Basically I'm your niece."

"Ok, so I'm your uncle, huh??"

"That's right." The girl replied. "The last time I saw you was during the family gathering many years ago. But my parents told me that I've an uncle named James Potter studying in Hogwarts. I can recognize you because you've that trademark Potter look and I've seen your picture last week." James and Kate did have some slight resemblance. James hair was much more messier than Kate, but both had black hair.

"You saw my picture??"

"Yeah, your mum sent some pictures of you over. In case I can't recognize you or something."

"That's interesting." James finally seemed to see the light a little. "But please don't call me uncle. Just James will do."

"Alright Uncle – oops, James."

"James." James insisted.

"James." Kate repeated, grinning.

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"Guess when James and Lily will get together." Sirius suggested. The group of Gryffindors was returning to their tower. Lily and James, being Head Boy and Girl and house prefects, were leading in front. The four of them walked slowly behind, talking among themselves.

"This year." Stefanie said confidently.

"I'm with Stef for that guess." Remus added.

"Who's that first year who's talking to James??"

"No idea. His cousin or something."

"That reminds me. Where's Andromeda??" Stefanie scanned the shorter crowd for a shoulder length brown-haired girl with the surname Black.

"There." Sirius pointed.

"I ask her." Stefanie moved forward to catch up with the girl who was walking alone. "Hello."

"Hello." The girl named Andromeda Black replied shyly.

"I'm Stefanie Black." Stefanie told her.

"Huh?? We're related??" Andromeda was surprised too.

"I was pretty surprised when I heard your surname too. And that guy over there, Sirius, is my twin brother." Stefanie pointed out the tall hunky guy who was walking behind them to the first year.

"Wow, I didn't know I've such gorgeous cousins."

"I don't know if we're cousins either." Stefanie admitted.

"Actually, Narcissa is my sister. She's in Slytherin, seventh-year."

"Well, Narcissa is our, as in my and Sirius, cousin." Stefanie frowned a little. "She isn't exactly nice to put in mildly."

"I know what you mean." Andromeda looked down. "She's pretty mean to me too. Narcissa and Bellatrix are the ideal daughters my parents dote on."

"Ooh." Stefanie did not know how to respond.

"Narcissa and Bellatrix are my older sisters. Bellatrix went to another institute elsewhere." Andromeda told her. "My parents dote on them very much. Not like they hate me or anything, but somehow they don't love me as much as them."

"I'm so sorry to hear that." Stefanie placed her arm around Andromeda.

"They were happy when I was admitted to Hogwarts. But I guess I'll get scolded or something or not getting into Slytherins. And the worst thing is I got into Gryffindor."

"It's ok. You've got Sirius and me over here."

"Thanks. I thought the entire Black family are all meanies."

"I guess my father was the exception, that's why he was kicked out of the family."

"Yeah, guess so. That's why I don't remember seeing your name." Andromeda was more comfortable with Stefanie now. "I think I saw Sirius somewhere before on the tapestry."

"Well, that's a long story actually." Stefanie changed the unhappy topic. "But I'm really glad to acknowledge a cousin that I've never seen before."

"Me too. I can feel that this is turning out to be better than I expected." Andromeda had a happy smile on her face.

"First year stay behind at the common room for a short briefing." James announced. "The Marauders Rules is our password."

"What a password." A fifth-year prefect said jokingly.

"We'll change it when the first year get familiarize with us." James replied in a joking manner.

"First-years this way." Lily raised her hand. The second-years to the seventh-years went up to their respective dormitories directly. "This is our common room." They looked around at the red and gold-colored cozy circular room full of squashy armchairs.

"This staircase leads to the boys dormitory." James pointed at the spiral staircase on his left. "And this leads to the girls." He pointed at the staircase on his right. "Boys are not allowed to be in the girls' dormitory, at all."

"Breakfast at eight tomorrow morning. Lessons will start at nine." Lily told the ten new students.

"Don't be late. That's all." James told them. "Good night."

"Have a good rest." Lily added. The five boys and five girls dispersed and went to their respective dormitories.

"Good night James, and _don't be late_." Lily laughed and went up the stairs after the first-years.

"Good night Lils." James shook his head a little and laughed at Lily's joke.

33333333333333333333

"Woah!!"

"Why is it so misty??"

"What's going on??"

"Ooah!! Since when is there a mist in Hogwarts??" Lily asked her roommates. The four girls were about to head to the Great Hall for breakfast when the mist filled up their rooms the moment they opened their door.

"No idea. I can't see a thing." Stefanie put her hand in front of her to check for the visibility.

"It's going to be tough to make it to the Great Hall in this case." Samantha walked forward not knowing the direction.

"Ouch. You stepped on my feet." Joey said. "What's the anti-mist charm??"

"I can't remember." Lily said. "We never has the need to use it, until now, that is."

33333333333333333333

"What's that??" Peter asked stupidly. Sirius had just opened their dormitory door and a mist gushed in and filled up their room.

"A mist." Remus said suggestively.

"A very thick mist indeed." James blinked and could not see a thing beyond the grayish clouds of mist.

"What's the anti-mist charm??" Sirius asked.

"I don't know."

"Ahh, then we've to go to the Hall like blind mice."

"Is that sarcasm??"

"Oops, sorry Wormtail."

Bbbblammmmm!!

"Ouch!!"

"Moony, try to remember the anti-mist charm!!" Sirius had tripped over James and fell flat forward.


	96. Budding Pranksters

**Chapter 95: Budding Pranksters**

"It wasn't us." James told Professor McGonagall.

"Who in history of Hogwarts would pull such a prank besides the four of you??" Professor McGonagall said. The Marauders were called to her office as some of the students had injured themselves in a way or another while other first years were scared to tears. "Mr. Potter, I think better of you. Being a Head Boy, you ought to-"

"We really didn't pull that prank. Our own dorm was misted as well." Sirius added.

"Professor, it really wasn't us. If it were we, we would admit for sure. But it wasn't." Remus tried to reason with Professor McGonagall.

"Then who could it be??"

"It must be someone from Gryffindor."

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"What a prank those guys played." The four girls managed to figure out what the Anti-mist Charm was after a while and de-mist the whole girls' dormitory.

"I didn't thought they would be pulling a prank." Stefanie said. "Remus didn't mention anything to me."

"Well, they did something with the Sorting Hat." Samantha reminded.

"I knew about that. But not this." Stefanie frowned a little.

"Maybe they thought of it last night??" Lily suggested.

"Perhaps, but I still felt that it was someone else."

"Everyone believed that it must be the Marauders. I mean who would pull a prank like this on the first day of school?? The first years were terrified." Joey commented. There were first-years beside them and some looked rather petrified from the morning incident.

"At least McGonagall is interrogating them now. We'll know soon enough."

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"Who pulled the prank this morning??" James asked the group of students who were gathered in the common room after a whole day of lessons.

"If no one admits, we will have to use Veritaserum." Remus told them. Some of the younger students gave him a blank look. "For those of you who don't know what Veritaserum is, it's a truth potion. You'll answer the truth to whatever questions we ask without knowing it yourself."

"We are giving you all one more chance to admit. It will start off with the guys, from first year onwards." Protests could be heard from the male dominated region of the common room.

"McGonagall had asked me to find out who are the culprits of this morning prank, especially since some of the students were injured." James said with authority. "If the culprits don't own up by themselves, we'll have to do this until we find the one."

"Save the trouble. We're the one who did it." A first year called out. Everyone in the common room turned to face the young wizard at the back of the room.

"What's your name??"

"Alex Weasley."  
  


"And Ted Tonks." The two boys stood up among the group of seated audience.

"Very good. That's all for the night. Alex and Ted, we need to speak to you." James told the group. The rest of the innocent parties left the common room and returned back to their own dormitories for the night.

"So can you tell us how did you did it??"

"We just used to Misty Charm which I read from my brother's magic book."

"But you guys barely learn to use your wand and you two can do something so advance." Sirius was surprised at the two juniors idea.

"Well, we're going to be pranksters and break the detention record." Alex said confidently. The Marauders could not help but laughed at the budding pranksters.

"Well, we're not stopping you but don't tell Minerva that we're encouraging you to do that." Sirius told the two boys. "We need someone to take over us after we left and you two are ideal for the job."

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"You're kidding me." Lily was surprised.

"They're really budding pranksters." Stefanie shook her head, laughing as she spoke. "Hogwarts is in chaos."

"That's pretty amazing for first years." Lily added. The Marauders had just informed the girls about the prank played by two first years.

"They've the potential." James commented. "I don't think we thought of something that advanced when we were in first year."

"I don't think you guys thought of anything in advance of your years."

"We are too advanced for you girls to understand anything."

"Anyway what happen to the two of them??"

"A week of detention for both, starts today."

"This is only like their second day of school!!"

"Kids nowadays." Remus shook his head in disbelief.

"You sound as if you're very old."

"We're like seventh year and they're in the first."

"Come to think about that, we're quite old actually."

"Thanks for the reminder but I don't like to remember the fact that I'm old."

"Lily, _oooold_ little Lily." Sirius said in a singsong manner.

"_Ooooold_ Sirius" Lily replied.

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"It's kinda strange that we're not serving detention today." Sirius commented loudly. They were into the second week of school and all of them were actually resting and relaxing in their dormitory instead of serving detentions.

"What were we doing on the second week of school last year??"

"I think we were serving detentions??"

"Doing what??"

"Washing toilet??"

"Cleaning trophy room??"

"Actually I can't remember. We been through so much detentions until I forgot all about it."

"Too bad Minerva gotta divide her attention between us and the two boys."

"Padfoot, I know you _love _Maggie's undivided attention, but it's about time she move on with new boys."

"Don't deny that you too enjoy Maggie and Albus attention more than I do."

"I didn't say I love their attention."

"If you guys are not going to start doing your homework, I can assure you two that you will get Porky's undivided attention tomorrow morning." Remus mentioned casually.

"Oh ya!! The potion homework!!" James jumped out of his bed and get a head start on his expired assignment.

"Moony, why didn't you remind us earlier?!?"

"Sorry, just can't bear to interrupt you guys dreaming about Maggie." Remus grinned at his two best friends.

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"AAAHHHH!!" A scream echoed in the Gryffindor tower.

"What's going on??" Stefanie stopped brushing her hair suddenly.

"Someone fell down??" Lily guessed and opened her dormitory door to check but unable to see anything.

"You better go and check it out." Joey told Lily. "Prefect and Head Girl ought to do something."

"You've got a point." Lily nodded. "I see you guys later." She grabbed her book bag and went down the staircase at her fastest speed.

"Hey Lily." The fifth and sixth year prefect called out.

"Hey girls. Any idea what happened??"

"No clue. We heard the scream and that's why we're checking it out."

"AAAAHHHHHH!!" Another scream echoed through the tower.

"We better hurry." Lily told the two junior prefects and going down two steps at a time. "WOOOAAHH!!" She made a quick grab on the handrail by the side of the spiral staircase to prevent her from falling. "Careful!!" She warned the two girls behind her who grabbed onto the handrail immediately.

"What's going on??" The sixth year prefect asked.

"Look." Lily pointed downwards with her left hand while her right hand held tight on the handrail as she steadied herself.

"Woah!! Where did the steps gone to??" The fifth year asked. The first few steps that led up the girls' dormitory had disappeared and replaced with a soft bouncy mattress underneath. There were two girls bouncing up and down on the mattress.

"Warn the girls behind." Lily instructed the two prefects who went a few steps back to warn the girls about the direct fall.

"Aaahhh!!" This time it was a scream from the boys.

"HELP!!" The two girls who were bouncing up and down the mattress called out to Lily.

"Grab my hand." Lily held out her left hand while keeping her right hand tightly on the handrail and at the same time keeping her feet steady on the last step. "Bounce closer."

The two girls tried bouncing closer to the last step and one of them grabbed Lily's hand. With the help of a few other girls, they managed to pull the second year back to the solid stairs. After a few more bounce, they retrieved the third year from the bouncing mattress as well.

"Finite Incantatum." Lily waved her wand and the bouncing mattress reverted back to the first few solid steps of the girls' dormitory. To prove to the rest of the girls that the steps were the normal solid ones, she walked down herself confidently.

"Bravo Lily." Someone gave Lily a pat on her back.

"Aaahhh!!" A boy yelled.

"Looks like the guys are suffering from the same fate." The girls laughed at the comment. There were two guys bouncing up and down at the bottom of the boys' dormitory.

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"Chaos early in the morning." Sirius shook his head.

"Wake up Padfoot, its morning." Remus laughed at his sleepy friend.

"Aaaahhh!!"

"Did I hear someone screaming??" James asked.

"There were quite a number of screams in case you guys hasn't heard anything." Remus told him.

"I really didn't." James admitted. "Let's go and take a look."

"Prefect instinct."

"Make it Head Boy instinct."

"I'm really starting to hate his Head Boy instinct." Sirius muttered.

"Aaahhh!!"

"I think something is wrong." Remus frowned, as the yells got more and more frequent.  
  


"STOP!!" James called out. Even the Marauders got a shock at James' outburst.

"Help!!" The guys who were stuck bouncing up and down called out. The books and bags and wands that had dropped were bouncing up and down with their owners as well. It was a rather messy bounce indeed.

"Wingardium Leviosa." James used a simple spell to leviate all the bouncing students off the mattress onto the solid ground of the common room before reverting the mattress back to the original steps.

Most of the girls were laughing their hearts out at the common room because it was a rather funny sight to watch more than ten guys bouncing up and down along with their belongings.

"Ted and Alex." James called out to the massive group of Gryffindors who were gathering in the common room during the breakfast hour.

"Over here." Alex waved to catch James' attention. The two guys were literally rolling on the floor laughing out loud at the corner of the room, which gave a good view.

"Very funny huh." James said, grinning at the two guys.

"Don't you think so??"

"Wait till McGonagall hear about this."

"I reckon you guys won't tell them." Ted stifled his laughter.

"We won't but someone else would. The whole house is up witnessing this and you can't expect anyone to keep hush about this."

"Erase their memory??"

"If you two dare to do it, you gotta bear the consequences."

"That's the advise from the professional pranksters."

"You guys are professionals??"

"Definitely."

  
"But it's always us that play the pranks. You guys haven't done anything since the school year started."

"If you guys got N.E.W.T.S around the corner and McGonagall and Dumbledore breathing down your neck and with a hell load of responsibilities, I wonder if you still have the time to pull any prank."

"Well, N.E.W.T.S seems like a long way for us." Ted told them.

Most of the Gryffindors had left for breakfast since lessons were starting. It's rather strange to have the entire house in the common room for breakfast to start with.

"It was a long way for us six years ago, but look at us now." James placed his arm behind the two guys and led them out as they talked.

"Tell us about your pranking history. It seems interesting." Alex requested.

"That's a whole lot of stuffs. But you can ask your seniors. They can tell you some of them."

"Nothing beats hearing it from the great prankster himself."

"How did you become the Head Boy when you're the school prankster??"

"The four of us are the Marauders, Hogwarts infamous and soon-to-be-legendary pranksters. We played a whole load of pranks and did detention of every type before. Even Filch could not come up with new detentions for us."

"I think I've heard some of the students talking about you guys along the corridors. You guys must be popular."

"Everyone at Hogwarts seems to know one another. So it doesn't make much of a difference. Anyway you'll get to see and perhaps, experience our pranks soon enough."

"Why soon and not now??"

"That's because all our pranks are well-planned and with proper equipments."

"Sounds cool."

"It is." The professional prankster and the two amateur pranksters talked all the way to the Great Hall.

"TONKS AND WEASLEY!!" Professor McGonagall called out before the few managed to enter the Great Hall.

"You'll get used to that." James said softly to the two guys. The Marauders laughed at James' comment for they could visualize the whole scenario. "Hello Professor." James greeted Professor McGonagall brightly.

"Morning James. I need to get this two boys to my office now." The three of them exchanged a look before going their separate directions. The Marauders went into the Great Hall for breakfast while Ted and Alex followed Professor McGonagall back to her office.

"Morning girls."

"Hey guys. Looks like the two boys are in for another detention."

"It's only their third week and they just finished their detention like two days ago."

"Well, they are just so _Marauders_."

"We clicked off pretty well."

"Looks like six years of age gap aren't too much."

"Brains of pranksters flock together."

"You guys better buck up if you don't wanna lose your title as the school's prankster." Stefanie teased.


	97. Fun With Patronus

**Chapter 96: Fun With Patronus**

"I must be losing it." Sirius complained. The four guys were hanging out in their dormitory mugging for an upcoming Charms test, which none of them were particularly good at that subject.

"Why can't it be Transfig??" Things would be so much easier." James added, flipping the next page of the textbook, throwing a glance over at his friends who were at various spots in the room.

"It would be better if it's D.A.D.A.." Remus commented.

"Can someone explain this Patronus Charm??" Peter asked suddenly.

"It's the shape of an animal, silvery in colour." Sirius thought for a while before he gave some explanation.

"It's the embodiment of the positive thoughts from the caster." James added.

"And it's used to drive away Dementors and Lethifolds."

"The incantation is _Expecto Patronum_."

"_Expecto Patronum_." Peter muttered. A silvery gas oozed out from the end of his wand. "Erm.."

"Don't worry, try again." James said encouragingly. "_Expecto Patronum_." A distinctive dazzling silvery stag emerged from the end of his wand into the dormitory.

"Woah!! Prongs, you don't have to create _yourself_ as your patronus." Sirius told his over-confident buddy. "_Expecto Patronum_." An impressive white looking dog shot out from Sirius' wand and charged at James' patronus.

"Patronus are used to fight against Dementors and Lethifolds, and not against _another_ Patronus." Remus laughed as he watched James' and Sirius' Patronus engaging in a friendly match in the middle of their dormitory.

"How would Flitwick react to the sight of this??" James said as he concentrated on his Patronus stag, which was attempting to pin Sirius' dog down.

"He would be _devastated_." Sirius exaggerated. "I bet he never thought of Patronus wrestling as a hobby."

"And he said he took ages to master the ideal Patronus."

"Decades you mean." The group laughed at their joke. Afterall Professor Flitwick was not considered exactly young.

"We can try something during his class test." James had that glint in his eye, which always appeared when he was up to some mischief.

"What??" The other three guys gathered at James' bed for their secret discussion.

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"Getting that isn't much of a problem. But I need some major practicing." Lily was thinking over what the Marauders had suggested to them.

"What animal do you suggest??"

"Up to you, but it gotta be within the theme."

"And it's gonna be around for the whole day??"

"Not for you girls, only us. But we need your co-operation during Flitwick's class."

"Shouldn't be much of a problem. Give me an animal, which is close to my inner self??"

"Hmm.. that's not exactly easy."

"Precisely."

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"Professor, how did we fare for our Charms test??" James asked Professor Flitwick. A very blur imaged of the vertically challenged Professor Flitwick was in front of the class marking their Patronus test.

"Mr. Potter, it would be nice if your hawk and Mr. Black's seal to stop dancing. It's distracting." Professor Flitwick said in his usual high squeaky voice. He had been a nice teacher to them and the group did not want to overdo their little joke.

"Ditto." James' Patronus, in the shape of a hawk was now hovering above Professor Flitwick and made him a little uneasy. After James' hawk was ridiculously large.

"Miss Evans, your fox is very well conjured. Definitely strong enough to fight."

"Actually Professor, my Patronus is actually a tiger. This fox is used to fit the Antarctica theme."

"I've noticed the strange combination of animals when polar and penguins emerging as Patronus." Professor Flitwick was going through the Patronus as he marked them by their strength and distinctiveness. "The Walrus and Snow Hare will need some improvements, but it's pretty good I must say." He nodded approvingly as he jotted down some notes in his parchment.

"How about the Hawk??" James asked.

"What about my Seal??" Sirius added.

"And the Polar bear??"

"And my Penguin too." Peter asked.

"They're all excellently conjured I must admit. The best Patronus I ever seen in my seventh-years." Professor Flitwick spoke to the students. The Patronus were vanishing into thin air slowly. "You all definitely deserve an early end to this lesson." The eight students stood up and thanked their Professor before leaving the classroom excitedly.

"This is so cool. Our lesson time is halved." Sirius was literally jumping for joy.

"Yeah, and you reckon that we should do it often." James knew exactly what his best friend was thinking.

"Wow. How did you know??" Sirius gave a pretended shocking look.

"I'm a genius, that's why." James said jokingly.

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"AAHHH!!"

"What's that??"

"Looks like ghost!!"

"But there are no _animal _ghosts in Hogwarts!!"

"Then what are all these??"

James was manipulating his hawk as his Patronus hovered over the younger students along the corridors. Sirius' seal was gliding around the rough grounds, the students were jumping away to avoid it but to some of their amazement, the seal went through them. The polar bear that Remus was maneuvering was standing tall and strong but yet looked so benevolent that students attempted to touch it but could not. Peter's penguin wobbled behind the three animal Patronus along the long stretch of corridor from their Charms classroom towards the Great Hall,

"Marauders!! That's so cool."

"Look, our little pranksters are here." Remus chuckled.

"We aren't little any more."

"To us, you two are still very young."

  
"Can you teach us how you conjure up that ghostly animal??"

"We can use it to scare those girls."

"Those 'ghostly animals' are conjured by the Patronus charm. It's very advanced magic."

"We can do anything."

"It's not as easy as you think. It require lots of concentration and we even have slight difficulties doing it in our seventh year."

"Just teach us the incantation."

"_Expecto Patronum_."

"Sounds difficult already."

"At your age, you two should be practicing your '_Wingardium Leviosa'_."

"That's too easy-peasey."

"Don't say too early."

"_Wingardium Leviosa_." Ted pointed at a quill, which was sticking up from Peter's bag, and it floated into mid-air in front of James' instantly.

"Very good."

"Now to the Patentous Charm."

"Patronus."

"Ok, Patronus Charm."

"_Expect _-" Alex paused, trying to remember the incantation.

"_Expecto Patronum_."

"_Expecto Patronum_." A whoosh of silvery gas shot out from Ted's wand. Alex repeated the incantation and it was the same result for him as well.

"Where's the Patronus??"

"You need to think of genuinely happy memories as you conjure the Patronus. And it requires lots of practice, otherwise it will just drain off all your energy." Remus told the two over-enthusiastic boys who were shooting out more shiny gases out from their wands.

"I seriously don't advice you guys to try something as advance as this." James told the two guys. "_Expecto Patronum_." A characteristic dazzling white stag emerged from the end of his wand and galloped forward in between the two boys.

"Wow!!" The two first years were in awed, as they watched the white stag galloping down the steps and after several flights, it vanished into thin air.

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"I can't wait for Christmas!!" Lily said enthusiastically during their dinner.

"It's like more than two months to go." Stefanie reminded her friend.

"It would be nice if we have a ball or something." Lily wondered dreamily.

"Still remembering the previous ones??"

"Yeah, those were the times."

"But this time you two would be in charged and not the co-organizers."

"That's why it seemed a little difficult. I wondered how did the previous Heads did those stuffs."

"I supposed loads of time and effort put in."

"I think so too."

"What does James think about this idea??"

"I don't have much of a clue actually."

"He didn't know??"

"I just thought of it."

"You can ask him now actually." Stefanie looked up at the approaching figures behind Lily.

"Hey girls." Sirius greeted the two girls and sat automatically beside Stefanie. Remus sat on the right of Stefanie instead.

"We were just talking about James." Stefanie told them, looking at James who settled himself beside Lily.

"Looks like someone having a major crush on our Prongsie." Sirius said teasingly. Everyone knew very well whom he was referring to.

"I didn't talk about James, it was Stef." Lily defended herself.

"When did I say you have a crush on James??" Sirius feigned an innocent look and the whole group of them laughed besides Lily. Even James was laughing at Sirius' little joke.

"Never mind." Lily ignored the group and ate in silence while the rest continued to laugh even harder.

"Ok, we were talking about having a Christmas Ball or something." Stefanie changed the topic. "That certainly lightens the mood. Besides it's our last year to do something here."

"It's boring to have those sorts of balls day in day out." James did not seem to be particularly interested in that topic.

"Then what would you suggest??" Remus asked. "These celebrations are like Hogwarts tradition."

"I'm thinking of something different." James told them. "Not those typical fanciful party. Preferably not held in Hogwarts building."

"Great idea, Prongs. We can do something _wilder_." Sirius said encouragingly.

"I don't think we can make it too extreme if we want it as a school event. I was thinking along the lines of night flying."

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"I think this is highly dangerous." Professor McGonagall pointed out.

"We're only allowing third-years and above to attend. And they must be able to do some descent flying." James debated. "We'll organize a try-out for those who want to sign up. Only those who pass would be able to attend. But only third year and above are allowed."

"Professor, this is something different from what the Prefects has been organizing in the past. We'll prepare all necessary safety precautions. And there would be Professors attending as well."

"Professor, what do you think??" James asked Dumbledore who had remained silence throughout the whole conversation with Professor McGonagall.

"It's a good idea definitely. I would be going personally to ensure all the safety requirements are met." Dumbledore said. "This would need a lot of organizing. And to begin with, not all the prefects are good flyers."

"We're thinking of having it somewhere next March. One of the Fridays." Lily told the two Professors what the group of them had come up with. "All the prefects would be the guides for the other students. And we'll go for the trial route for three times before the actual event."

"We can rent the brooms if the students need them. But most students already have theirs. Everyone from the four house teams would be going and that's about thirty students. Then the prefects, excluding those from the teams, would be about fifteen. And if one guide to one student, that would make about a hundred people, including the teachers."

"Minerva, I must say that this is a good idea." Dumbledore said approvingly. "But I need you two to come up with a proper plan for the whole thing. How about give me an outline by November?? Then you two can carry on with the discussion with the rest of the prefects before Christmas??"

"Thank you very much, Professor." Lily said politely.

"One more thing I would like to add." James spoke up. "Regarding the safety of this event, I was thinking of using something like the Fidelius Charm to protect the safety from Voldemort."

"This would be something I will take care of. I'm very glad you pointed that out." Professor McGonagall added. "Being an out-of-school event, there would be much more preparations needed than what you know."

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"I can't believe they agreed to that idea!!" Sirius was jumping in joy when James told the rest of them Dumbledore's approval on their night flying idea.

"I was surprised too!!" James admitted. "It was interesting to talk about over dinner for the last few days. Even Maggie agreed finally. She was rather reluctant initially regarding the safety issue."

"I understand her concern. With Voldemort killings and rumors around, night flying sounds far from safe." Remus added.

"We will deal with everything else with safety first as priority. But Maggie would be overlooking in that area."

"Sounds fair enough." Remus said approvingly. "Then this mean that we gotta start getting a route plan as soon as possible."

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"Oh my gosh!!" Samantha gushed.

"This sounds so cool!!" Joey cheered.

"I'm so surprised they agreed." Stefanie was ecstatic about the idea of night flying and this was really great news.  
  


"We'll need as much help as possible, and besides the prefects and quidditch teams, you three gotta be there."

"No way am I going to give this a miss." Samantha told her.

"Me neither." Joey seconded her opinion.

"You can count of me." Stefanie assured Lily.

"Great!! This is sounding more and more exciting as it goes."


	98. Ideas

**Chapter 97: Ideas**

"NO WAY!!"

"This is a great prank!!"

"Yeah, and at the risk of _my_ peanut butter!!"

"It's only a few jars."

"It's _twenty_ jars, mind you."

"Yeah, somewhere there."

"That's my one year supply of peanut butter!!"

"You can get more when you go home for Christmas."

"Something tells me my Mum won't be happy if I ask for another ten jars of peanut butter."

"Prank or peanut butter."

"Peanut butter."

"Are you a prankster or peanut butter king??"

"I'm the Peanut Butter Prince."

"Give me a break."

"You give me a break."

"So are you going to give up your peanut butter??"

"I said no."

"Well.."

"Well what??"

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"So we shall _hover_ around the Hogwarts turrets, and then _hover_ above the Forbidden Forest and then _travel_ above Hogsmeade Village, with a _fly through_ at the station??"

"Frankly, that sound like something everyone already did at some point of their schooling life." James told Sirius, who just came up with some suggestion on the route for night flying.

"I suggested the Journey-To-The-East but you didn't agree."

"That would require a week of traveling and not overnight!!" Remus laughed at his friend's stupidity.

"Ok, you two are all smart and almighty. Go ahead and think of the route without me." Sirius pouted and sat on his bed, hands crossed in front of his chest.

"Sometimes I just doubt Padfoot's age and sexuality." James shook his head.

"Me too." Remus added,

"Me three." Peter chirped in. The next thing that happened was three pillows flew at Sirius' roommates and hit them on their heads.

"Ouch!!"

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"This is our proposal to Professor Dumbledore." James told his fellow prefects during the monthly prefect meeting. "Professor McGonagall will overlook this whole event, especially on the safety department."

"We had came out with the brief overview of this whole event which will take place somewhere in March. Only third years and above are allowed to participate. All participants have to undergo a selection before they are allowed to go for this trip." A few hands rose from various spots of the room after Lily's statement.

"It's a school event and by right, everyone is supposed to participate." A fifth year Hufflepuff pointed out.

"I understand your point. But since we wanted to make this event special, extra precautions are needed." James explained. "I just want to make sure the participants are able to fly properly on their brooms. The house team players and reserves are excused for that, but everyone including the prefects must undergo this selection. So those of you who are not very good with your flying techniques, you still have ample time to brush it up. Because all prefects have to attend this event." A few groans could be heard from some of the lousier flyers.

"Where would be we going to??" Alice, a seventh-year Ravenclaw prefect, asked James.

"Is there any particular places you guys want to fly over??" James asked the rest.

"Forbidden Forest."

"Scotland."

"England."

"Durmstang Institute."

"Asia."

"Okay okay, I get your point." James raised his hands to get their attention. "Lily and I will plan the basic route first. On every Friday from the first week of January, all prefects are to tryout the test route and improve on it. In this way, we can build up your stamina, especially for those not in their house teams, and also to ensure teamwork during the event to minimize any exposure to danger down to zero."

"Any professors going??"

"Professor Dumbledore and McGonagall will definitely be going." Lily told them. "We've yet to ask the other professors yet. But Madam Pomfrey would be there as well."

"I've a question." A fifth-year Hufflepuff raised his hand.

"Yes??" All the prefects turned to look at what he had to ask.

"You-know-who is out there and if he knows about this-"

"That is not our main priority now that Dum - Professor Dumbledore would be there with us. And we'll use the Fidelius Charm as well as the Disillusioned Charm during our journey. This is strictly confidential as we do not want the other students to get all panicky about this." James said firmly with confidence.

"What's the Fidelius and Disillusioned Charm about??" Another fifth-year asked.

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"Stop following me!!" A shrieking voice could be heard from one of the corridors. "And mine you, don't go around telling others your surname. Such a disgrace to our family."

"Who's that??" Ted whispered to Alex. The two guys were sneaking around the corridors in the evening.

"Sorry Bellatrix, I didn't mean that. You're my sister and-"

"I don't have a sister like you!!"

"Bellatrix Black, someone from Slytherin." Alex frowned.

"Let's see who is that bitch bullying." Ted walked faster, following the source of the voice.

"Please don't be like that. You and Narcissa are-"

"Our parents only have two daughters, and that's me and Narcissa. I'm warning you, stop disturbing me or I shall make sure you get expelled." A soft crying sound echoed through the corridors.

"I'm sorry."

"We don't have anything to do with each other. Narcissa and me are sisters. You are just you."

"Bella, this bitch is so annoying, let's just go." A boy's voice could be heard.

"There are more than two people." They reached the end of the corridor and peeked over. "That's Andromeda."

"Wait. Don't rush into it."

"The two third-years are bullying a poor first-year." Alex was holding Ted back.

"I'm warning you. We're not related." Bellatrix threatened Andromeda.

"Don't bother about her, let's go." Another third-year Slytherin, Rodolphus Lestrange, stood at one side, arms crossed and looking very irritated indeed.

"I didn't choose to be in Gryffindor." Andromeda was in tears. "Please don't leave me." Bellatrix was looking very hostile as well.

"Just buzz off." Rodolphus gave a hard shove and Andromeda fell backwards.

"What are you two doing?? Bullying a Gryffindor!!" Ted released from Alex's grip and shouted at the third-year Slytherins.

"Associating with mudbloods, I'm totally disgraced by your behavior." Bellaxtrix wrinkled her nose in disgust, ignoring Ted's comment.

"Don't pollute yourself by talking to them." Rodolphus told Bellatrix.

"You're right. Let's go." The two haughty Slytherins turned their backs on them and left, leaving Andromeda on the ground with the two guys.

"Hey, you alright." Ted kneed down beside Andromeda.

"I'm fine. Thanks." Andromeda stood up quickly, careful not to make any eye contact with her two fellow Gryffindors. "Ouch." She winced lightly in pain.

"You're hurt." Alex told her.

"Nothing serious. I'm really fine." Andromeda said, still staring at the ground avoiding the eye contact. Supporting herself with a hand by the wall, she tried walking slowly back to the Gryffindor tower.

"Do you want me to get Professor McGonagall or Madam Pomfrey here??" Ted asked.

"No. Don't do anything. Just pretend that nothing happened tonight." Andromeda was trying hard not to cry.

"That two Slytherins were bullying you and you're not saying anything." Ted's tone was bitter. "And how dare he call me the m-word. I totally know what they're referring to."

"I apologize for that. And I don't think muggleborns are anywhere below the pure blood."

"You're not in the wrong and don't apologize for something you did not do."

"Thanks." The three walked in silence slowly since Andromeda did not want any help from the two guys.

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"Padfoot, your appetite had grown over the last break." James shook his head, laughing at his greedy friend.

"I was a laborer doing such manual tasks, it's naturally that I get hungry." Sirius defended.

"Hungry is one thing, but you're now eating servings for eight!! That's a hell lot more than us." Remus added.

"Can't help it, I'm the only one growing here." Sirius was already standing more than 1.8m, the tallest among the four.

"Yes, tall guy, sooner or later you will be expanding sideways."

"I assure you that no matter how much I'm expanding sideward, it can't go too far."

"Don't talk too soon. You never know. Besides I've no difficulty imagining a fat and obese Padfoot."

"Ted, Alex, what are you two doing out here so late?? Ann, what happened?? Why are you crying??" Remus was the first to notice the three first-years.

"Who dare to bully my favorite cousin??" Sirius said loudly, comforting his cousin in his own way.

"It was Bellatrix and Rodolphus from Slytherin." Ted told the Marauders.

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"The Slytherins are too much!!" Sirius slammed his hand on the wooden table in the Gryffindor common room. Some of the younger students jumped in surprised and quickly returned to their dormitory. It was rare to see the Marauders getting angry and that was not a pretty sight.

"Ann, everything's gonna be alright." Stefanie had her arm around her younger cousin.

"We must get back at them." Ted told the Marauders.

"That's for sure." James agreed.

"Any ideas??" Peter asked the group. Currently dominating the Gryffindor common room was none other than the Marauders, Lily and Stefanie, and the three first-years.

"Sirius, forget it." Andromeda spoke up. "It's ok."

"They _bullied_ you and you said it's ok." Sirius raised his voice. "Even if it's ok with you, that's definitely not ok with me. I, being your cousin, and Sirius Black, am not going to let the Slytherins off for doing that."

"Ann!!" Kate Potter entered the common room via the spiral staircase from the girls' dormitory. "What happened??"

"It's my sister." Andromeda said softly. Kate nodded showing understand and kept quiet, listening to the guys who were making more noise than the victim herself.

"They deserve a prankfest." James spoke up. "It had been a long long time since we last did something like that."

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"So are you willing to let go of your peanut butter now??"

"Yes."  
  


"What's the sudden change of decision??"

"No particular reason."

"I got a feeling that this got something to do with a particular girl."

"Haha. Very funny."

"I know."

"I suddenly have another idea for pranking them instead of wasting my peanut butter."

"What??"

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"Look, you can't come and ask us for pranking tips. The art of pranking is self-learned, through experimenting and playing." James said. He was doing his night patrolling around the corridors when the two first-years approached him.

"But don't you agree that this is a good idea." Ted said.

"It's a good idea, I must agree. But in order to make sure its foolproof, research must be done. Charms must be modified. And frankly this idea never popped into my mind so I don't have a clue about the incantation to it, if there is one in the first place."

"Caught at mischief." Lily paced up to catch up the three guys ahead of her. "I've heard the whole plan." She grinned mischievously at the two first-years.

"Oh no!! You're not going to tell on us, are you??" Alex asked, a little worried about the fact that the Head Girl overheard their pranking idea.

"Well, that depends how well you two behave." Lily, still having the playful grin on her, told the two guys.

"Please don't." Ted begged. Both guys gave her a sweet puppy face look at her.

"Haha, alright. My mouth is sealed." Lily assured them. "But you must make sure I've a good laugh during the prank."

"No worries. You're on!!" Ted and Alex were literally jumping for joy.

"Run along, you've got six more corridors on your way back to avoid the teachers." James told them.

"Oh yeah, it's curfew time and you two are still out."

"Okay, we shall not disturb the lovey-dovey couple." Ted and Alex laughed and ran off before James attempted to chase after them.

"Those two remind me of the four of you." Apparently Lily had chose to ignore the last comment they made.

"I see their potential." James agreed. "Hogswart can't go prankster-less."

"Andromeda reminds me of myself in the past." Lily suddenly changed topic.

"Huh?? You mean you and your sister??"

"Yeah. Maybe we were never close in the first place so that wasn't too bad. But for Ann, she's quite attached to her sisters and now she's in Gryffindor, they deserted her."

"She won't be Sirius' favorite cousin if she is in Slytherin. He never shows any relations with Narcissa and Bellatrix though they are cousins."

"I know what you mean. I just can't help showing sympathy towards Ann." Lily thoughts ran deep. "And this is definitely not a good feeling to have sisters against you for no reason."

"Don't talk about the unhappy past." James tried to divert the attention away from the sad topic. "Did you know what prank the two of them have against the Slytherins??"


	99. Prankfest

**Chapter 98: Prankfest**

"That's certainly a good beginning of this major prankfest." Lily agreed as the Marauders were telling the girls about their prank the night before.

"Hope they get stuck indoor for the entire day." Joey said wistfully.

"It would be better if they get stuck inside _permanently_." Samantha commented.

"We hope for that too. But unfortunately our dear old Porky will be the hero to save the day." Sirius told them. "He's always there to rescue the Slytherin's ass."

"That's not exactly a good term to use." Stefanie raised her brows.

"You're starting to nag." Sirius raised his hands defensively. "But please spare me. Nag Moony all you want and I don't care."

"Hey!!"

"Isn't it sweet having someone like Stef nagging at you??" Sirius told Remus. "Sirius, mind your words. Oh Remus, your manners." He faked a high-pitched voice trying to imitate an exaggerated version of Stefanie's action, which earned him a punch on his stomach. "Ouch!!"

"You deserve that, you know??" Remus grinned at his good friend. The eight seventh-year Gryffindors were heading down for breakfast together, one of the rare moments where everyone was out at the same time.

"How could you do that to _me_??"

"Padfoot, spare me!!" Remus pretended to shudder at the idea of Sirius' facetious whining. The group started laughing at the funny exchanges between the guys.

"Hmm, this is a Slytherin-free morning." Stefanie commented. The group just stepped into the Great Hall full of chattering among the students from the various houses.

"For once, none of them is punctual for breakfast."

"Not even the ever hungry Snivellus."

"Since when is Snivellus ever hungry?? I thought it had always been 'the ever hungry Sirius'??"

"Let's wait and see what happen."

"Luckily our first lesson for today isn't Potions."

"At least it's our all time fave, Transfig."

"But there's a possibility of getting it from Maggie too."

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"What happened?!? The door is stuck!!"

"Someone help me!!"

"What the hell.."

"What's wrong with this stupid door??"

"Heck, why can't the door be opened??" Everyone in the Slytherin tower was locked in their dormitory for the door could not be opened, to the courtesy of the Marauders.

"It must be the Marauders!!"

"I swear it's those greasy Gryffindors!!"

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"Mr. James Potter, I'm so ashamed of your behavior as the Head Boy." Professor McGonagall scolded. The Marauders, once again, were standing in a row in her office after the first Transfiguration lesson.

"I apologize for what happened to the Slytherins this morning." James' tone was apologetic but he was far from that.

"No apology is going to be accepted if you don't stop doing all these unacceptable actions." Professor McGonagall gave a soft sign. "You four are in the seventh year, the oldest students, who should be the most matured, are playing these pranks on the other houses. This is totally disgraceful, to our house, and to yourselves."

"We wouldn't do anything if they hasn't angered us in the first place." Sirius spoke out bluntly. "Those disgusting Slytherins had been bullying our junior Gryffindors, and we're the only ones who can do something to them."

"This is no excuse for these intolerable behavior. The teachers are here to deal with these types of situations, and not up to the older students. And definitely not by pranking as a revenge."

"Professor, may I say something??" Remus asked.

"Yes, you may."

"In the teacher's eyes, we're doing the wrong things. But from a student's point of view, this is absolutely proper. All we did was connecting the doors of their dorms so they can't open from inside. No one was hurt or anything. And besides, Professor Porky rescued them by the first lesson."

"I'm not going to waste anymore time to explain what you did was wrong. Detention with me starts next Monday." Professor McGonagall told them.

"How long is it going to be??" Sirius asked.

"Till the four of you learn your lesson."

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"Rudolf the red-nosed reindeer." Alex sang out loudly as both boys walked along the corridor. The other students looked at them as if they were Christmas-deprived since it was about a month more before Christmas.

"Has a very shiny nose." Ted continued the next line to the tune.

"Rudolphus the red-nosed Slytherin." Alex repeated the same tune with different lyrics.

"Has a very red nose." Ted followed up. The guys kept repeating these two lines all the way as they walked along the corridor for their dinner.

"What's with the red nose reindeer??" James asked the singing duo.

"For a moment I thought I heard the red-nose Slytherin word." Remus laughed.

"Rudolphus the red-nosed Slytherin." Alex sang out loud.

"Has a very red nose."

"And if you ever saw him."

"You would even say it glows." Ted finished the stanza for the Marauders to get the idea.  
  


"You two painted Rudolphus' nose??" Remus asked quizzically.

"Nope."

"_Cursed_ his nose??" James raised his brows.

"Some sort." Alex grinned.

"Your brother was the Head Boy back then and you're the young Hogwarts prankster after us, what a contradiction." Sirius commented. Alex was Arthur Weasley's younger brother.

"Being the Head Boy is so bor-ing." Alex told them. "He seems to be so busy even during the break."

"Well, he might not be busy with school work." James grinned.

"Then??"

"Then it's for him to know and for you to find out." Sirius explained in a joking manner.

"By the way what did you guys did to the Slytherins this morning??" Ted asked.

"Nothing much actually. All we did was connected the seven dormitory doors with a rope. Then connect both the ropes together at their common room. And we simply charm it to tighten and unbreakable."

"So they can't open their dorm door from the inside." Alex's eyes widen at the idea of that brilliant prank.

"That simple??" Ted was surprised.

"Yup. One of the simplest pranks we played so far. No preparations need."

"But how did you all get inside the Slytherin tower??" Alex was curious.

"This is for us to know and for you to figure out." The Marauders exchanged a wink between them and laughed at the ignorance of the two younger boys.

"Potter, change my nose back at this very instant!!"

"Hohoho, Malfoy, getting so _Christmassy_ already." James smirked as he laughed at the sight of the red-nosed Slytherins who just headed over at his direction. "Nice nose you've got there."

"I'm warning you!! CHANGE MY NOSE BACK AT THIS INSTANT!!" Severus shouted at the Gryffindor boys.

"Don't you think Snivellus looks good with his nose red??" Sirius said in a sarcastic tone. "He needs some color on him desperately."

"We shall change it back ourselves." Lucius told his cronies as he turned the opposite direction and stomped off angrily. The other Slytherins shot the Gryffindor boys a look of hatred before following Lucius again.

"You guys did it on all the Slytherins??" Sirius widened his eyes in amazement.

"We drugged their water pipe leading towards the Slytherin tower." Ted boasted.

"That's a pretty good idea." James encouraged.

"We never even thought of that before." Peter admitted.

"And how did you two discover that pipe??"

"We happened to stumbled across it at a broken wall, then we followed the water flow and found that it leads all the way to the Slytherin tower." Alex said softly. "There was an opening, or interconnecting pipe or something at that broken wall. I supposed Filch wanted to do something with it."

"He wanted to fix the leakage or something. So we injected the coloring dye into pipe."

"Where did you find that potion or whatever that was??"

"It was in one of those Christmas decoration books. It was meant for animals to get their noses red for the Christmas season."

"I never knew there was something like that."

"Well, it was a joke book full of Christmas ideas. Not meant for human pranks, but who cares?? I don't take the Slytherins as humans." Ted said in a rather nasty way.

"You two are brilliant." Sirius was giving the two young boys an encouraging pat on their backs.

"Jeez, the next generation has much better ideas than us." Remus commented.

"Due to technology advancement." Ted gave a naughty boy grin.

"So how long is this going to last??" James asked.

"Only twelve days unfortunately." Alex winked at Ted. "But it counts from the moment they consume the water."

"In other words, it will last if they continue to use the water from that pipe." The Marauders laughed in amusement.

"Did you check to make sure the water won't backflow or something and end up at the Gryffidor pipes??"

"Erm.. we didn't."

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"It's a good thing that we had used the anti-smelly charm in our room." Sirius commented.

"There is the name for the charm and it's called Malodorous-Free Charm or MFC for short." James corrected him as he added some absurd looking ingredients into the caldron as Remus stirred the liquid inside.

"Sometimes don't everyone just wonder how the famous Sirius Black ever get a passing grade." Remus laughed as he paused to let James dropped some biscuits inside.

"Can't they use a simpler word like Smelly-free, or Anti-smell, or Smell-off Charm?? That word is just so difficult to remember."

"Padfoot, you're seventeen and not seven anymore. It's time that you should use some difficult words. Besides we learnt that somewhere last year."

"Alright, save the crap and carry on with Procedure Stinko." Sirius avoided the topic of correction. "We need to make sure this is smelly enough and charm it to fight the different charms in case those Slytherin brains thought of that."

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"What have you guys been doing?? There's this stench of decomposed stuffs emitting from you." Stefanie told the Marauders as they were having their dinner together.

"Our body odor is developing the fragrance." Sirius joked.

"A fragrance would be an overstatement to this reek." Lily teased. "Seriously you guys better get a bathe, or at least use some concealing charm."

"What have you guys been doing?? This smelled a little more horrible than sour cream." Stefanie shot the guys the I-know-you-guys-are-up-to-something look.

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"Don't forget the wardrobes." James instructed. With that, guys sneaked up to the seventh-year Slytherin boys' dormitory silently. Once inside, they did their respective duty for their prank. James poured the liquid onto the beds and stained the curtains; Sirius opened all the trunks and splashed the gooey stuffs on their clothes and uniforms; Remus kept watch and charmed the sleeping guys into a deeper sleep while helping Peter to pour the fluid at various spots of the room.

After finishing three quarters of the bottle each, they crept to the entrance of the dormitory while Remus cast the Malodorous-Free Charm and lifted all the other charms he cast earlier. Hiding in their Invisibility Cloak, they walked out briefly while trying to keep themselves from laughing. Along the way, they scattered some of the whitish mixture on the carpets, sofa and tapestries.

With all the shortcuts they discovered in the past few years, they reached the Gryffindor tower safe and sound, free from the teachers and Filch.

"It's going to be a 'smelly' day tomorrow." Peter commented.

"Today you mean??"

"Their newly developed body odor."

"We must get a decent bathe or else we're not much of a difference from them." James said and broke into a run up the boys' staircase. All four boys ran up the spiral staircase three steps at a time but James outran all of them.

"PRONGS!!" Sirius called out. "If you are not out at this instant, I'm coming in."

"Padfoot, you've been using this statement for the last seven years and we all know very well that you're not going to do that."

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"Woah!! What's that smell??"

"Disgusting smell!!"

"Who's that??"

"Smell like something decomposed!!"

"Makes me feel like puking."

"What smell is that??" Lily asked James. They had stopped by Professor Dumbledore's office to give him some updates of their Night-Flying plan and were now heading to the Great Hall for lunch. It was a Hogsmeade weekend and most students were already out.

"What does it smell like??" James grinned.

"Erm.. something sour and decomposed??"

"Think along the line of milk, together with a whole load of other decomposable foodstuffs."

"Eewww.."

"This stench is quite lasting actually."

"I need a mask!!" Lily was covering her nose and mouth with her palm. "The smell is getting stronger."

"Here comes Potty and the Mudblood Head girl." Severus taunted. Lucius and the rest of the Slytherin gang smirked. They seemed to be totally unaware that people were shunning their way due to their odor.

"Buzz off!! We're walking here!!" Lucius said with authority but neither James nor Lily moved aside.

"Did you not hear us??" Vaness repeated. James and Lily were trying their best not to laugh and puke at the same time. Still, neither of them moved out of their way. In the end the Slytherins detoured beside two and continued trotting off with 'smelly authority'.

"Go!!" James grabbed Lily's hand and dragged her into a run.

"W-what??" Lily was running along before she realized what was happening.

"I'm suffocating!! Get some fresh air!!" James was leading the fastest way to the entrance.

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"Did you see that??" Remus asked Stefanie. The duo was walking hand-in-hand towards the Great Hall when two running figures brushed past them.

"Lily and James." Stefanie replied with a grin.

"Hand-in-hand." Remus' eye had the naughty glint.

"Let's get out of here. There's a strange smell." Stefanie ushered Remus towards another direction.

"This is the smell of Malfoy and Snape." Remus told her. "They must have walked passed her, say five minutes ago??"


	100. Love Actually is all around

**Chapter 99: Love Actually is all around**

"I'm going out for a while." Lily was changing into a comfortable tee shirt and shorts. There was some urgent meeting for the teachers and all lessons were cancelled for the afternoon for the older students

"Where are you going??" Joey asked.

"A breath of fresh air, some sunlight, I don't know." Lily left the room to avoid further questions. _What's going to happen after I graduate from here?? Petunia isn't going to take me in and I've to depend on myself. _Lily was walking rather aimlessly for there were too many thoughts running in her mind. _Get a job, yeah, simpler than doing it. Stef still have her father, Sirius, Remus. The guys have one another. Bell still has her orphanage, her home. Me?? I have friends, very great friends indeed. I'm so thankful for them. But friends are friends; they can't be there for you all the time. Stef is lucky to have Remus, Bell and Sirius, an unlikely pair but well, I don't know. This is so confusing!!_

Lily walked down the spiral staircase and across the common room. _Better start thinking about the future, eight months will come and go before I know it. What is it that I wanted most??_

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"Hey Lily." James said brightly. Instead of responding to him in her usual cheerfulness, she walked passed him without giving him a look of acknowledgement. _Hmm.. what happened to her?? _He watched Lily walked out of the common room, not really having any focus. _Strange. _He shrugged it off and followed his friend out of the common room.

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_Sigh. I still don't wanna grow up. _Lily transfigured a long tree branch into a muggle deckchair. She adjusted the white plastic deckchair to a comfortable level before settling down comfortably under the shade of a big tree. _This is just so heavenly. _She had purposely chosen a location far from majority of the students so it would be more peaceful. _I must really do this once in a while. _She closed her eyes and relaxed, the waves from the lake gave a soothing effect to the soul. _Don't wanna think of anything, just enjoy the breeze and the shade in this bright sunny afternoon. _She emptied her thoughts and loosened up the tenseness. _Life's great!!_

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_What's Lily doing?? _James was confused. _Hmm.. I shall go and accompany her. _With that newfound idea, he transfigured another of the same white deckchair with a nearby twig. Pulling the chair so that it stood side by side along with Lily's he laid down beside her.

"What are you doing here??" Lily frowned slightly. _There goes my peace and silence._

"Why can't I be here??" James grinned.

"Never mind." Lily tried to ignore James' presence and closed her eyes again.

"Hey, don't sleep."

"I didn't ask you to come here."

"I felt like coming here."

"Yeah right."

"You're right."

"Ssshhh!!" Everytime silence filled the air; James would say something stupid and crappy to get Lily to reply. After an hour or exchange of crappiness, Lily knew the peace that she wanted had long evaporated ever since James came.

"Ok, what do you want??"

"You."

"Very funny."

"It's true."

"Never mind."

"I mind!!"

"Oh god!!"

"Yes Merlin!!"

"Shut up, I beg you!!"

"It's too quiet!!"

"Whatever." Lily said exasperatedly. _So much for an escapade to serenity!!_

"Don't be like that." James grinned. _Looks like she's enjoying my company._ "What are you thinking of??"

"Nothing much."

"I called you earlier at the common room and you didn't answer me."

"You did??"

"Yeah, and you walked out like a zombie."

"That bad??"

"Yeah, that's why I followed you."

"Ooh." Lily was not all that keen to be conversing but James was not going to keep his mouth shut for long.

"Can I hug you??" James asked suddenly. _She looks so – huggable._

"Huh??" Lily frowned in confusion.

"Just felt like hugging you."

"For what??"

"Don't know. Can I??"

"Nah, don't think so. Don't want people to have the wrong idea." Lily edged further from James.

"Who cares??" James moved closer and he simply grabbed Lily by the waist.

"Let go of me!!" Lily shrieked. James, on the other hand, was enjoying it.

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"This looks interesting." Sirius was laughing at something on their map.

"What??" Remus looked up at the amused Sirius with a curious expression.

"Look." Sirius finally moved away from where he was rooted with the map for the last thirty minutes. "Here." Peter left his bed to join the two guys on Remus' bed.

"James and Lily are – together??" Remus raised his brows. The two dots labeled 'James Potter' and 'Lily Evans' were overlapping each other. "Hmm.."

"I've been watching their actions in the last thirty minutes. James followed Lily out to the lake, and just five minutes ago, this two dots overlap each other."

"So it means-" Peter was trying to understand.

"That James and Lily could be kissing away by the lake." Sirius said gleefully.

"Maybe we can check it out to confirm." Remus winked. "Well, the map might be deceiving."

"Get the girls too." Sirius suggested. Without further ado, they left their dormitory and headed over to the girls' dormitory.

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"This assignment is getting on my nerves." Samantha whined to no one in particular. The three girls had been doing their homework in silence, with the scratching of quill onto the parchment as the domineering sound.

"Who on earth would like Potions homework??" Stefanie replied. "I mean it's like six parchments on the who, what, why, where, when And how!! It's killer paper."

"Sometimes I wonder if anyone actually set fire to the Potion classrooms." Joey joined in the conversation.

"I think the closest to setting fire would be the Marauders wild attempt to get rid of the dungeons last year." Stefanie recalled. The Marauders had 'accidentally' spilled alcohol onto the flame below their cauldron and set fire in the classroom. Everyone in the class evacuated and never returned to complete the lesson, besides the Slytherins, of course. That earned a month of detentions for the Marauders and made them jumped for joy.

"It's so unfortunate that it didn't succeed. Majority of the students might start worshipping the Marauders even more if they did." Samantha joked.

Knock!! Knock!!

Bam!! Bam!!

"Coming!!" Joey, being the closest to the door, opened it. "Hey guys!!"

"We've got something exciting. You girls wanna come for the show of a lifetime??" Sirius' jovial expression was tempting.

"Sounds good." Stefanie agreed. "What is it about??"

"About our Lily and James." Remus announced.

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"LET GO OF ME!!" Lily hissed as she attempted to release herself from James' tight grip.

_This is such a wonderful feeling._ James leaned his head against the fidgeting Lily's back with his hand firmly holding onto Lily's waist. Apparently Lily shouting was not processed in his mind.

"JAMES POTTER!!" Lily tried to untangle James' intertwined fingers on her waist. "I'M SUFFOCATING!!"

_Lily is mine. _James held Lily even tighter. Lily was kicking and beating James who was grabbing her from the back.

"Ouch!!" Lily had just elbowed James on his chest; his fingers loosen, but did not let go, much to Lily despair.

"GET OFF ME!!" Lily was now perspiring. The sun was blazing and all the struggling was tiring her out.

_I like Lily.. _James thought was he pulled Lily closer to him. It seemed like Lily's resistance was as disturbing as the sun. _I want to hold her for all my life._

"Fine." Lily finally settled down, panting slightly. James was too strong for her and he was very persistent at not letting her go. 

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"This is interesting." Sirius whispered. The three guys, along with three girls, were hiding behind some bushes, watching the couple that was hugging on the deckchairs.

"Looks like it's pretty one sided." Stefanie commented, shading her eyes from the sun with her palm.

"James always gets what he wants." Remus told them. "I don't think he will let go of Lily, at least not yet. The six of them were gathered not very far away from Lily and James, but yet not close enough to eavesdrop their conversation.

"Wasted we can't see their expression from here." Samantha said. "Otherwise it will be more interesting than this."

"Yeah, and we film it down and use it as blackmail." Sirius joked.

"Looks like Lily have given up on struggling." Lily stopped her movements and lain limply on the chair with James' hands wrapped around her.

"C'mon, do something." Sirius was encouraging the couple softly. "At least say something."

"I don't think there was much of a verbal exchange." Stefanie commented. "From what I see, James looked like he's in a half-dazed mode."

"Shall be go forward and give them a surprise??" Peter suggested.

"Not so soon. Wait and see what happens first." Remus grinned. The six continued to watch the little movements between the two.

"The sun is scorching and they're still so _tranquil_." Samantha was fanning herself with a newly transfigured paper fan from a grass blade.

"Love is in the air." Joey suggested as she moved closer to Samantha to enjoy the breeze from the fan.

"What are you guys looking at??" The six jumped at the questioning voice.

"SSSHHHHH!!" Alex and Ted gave them a questioning look.

"Don't talk so loud." Sirius pulled the two boys to his side, whispering to them what was happening.

"Oooh." The two boys seemed to understand a little of what's happening and just watched silently.

"There's no movement or whatsoever." Ted said after several minutes of waiting.

"There hasn't been much motion in the last fifteen minutes." Remus told them softly. The group had expanded and the bush was not much of camouflage.

"Hey!!"

"SSSHHHHH!!" The group shushed at the two approaching girls.

"What's going on??" Kate asked softly.

"We're watching a show." Stefanie grinned and told the two girls briefly what was happening.

"I see." The two girls had a look of comprehension and tried to peek at what was going on.

"Shall we go over or something??" Andromeda asked.

"Wait till they're _settled_ down first." Sirius told them.

"They haven't had much movement for the last ten, or twenty minutes." Stefanie replied. "I supposed that's already consider _settled_."

"Just a little while more." Remus declared. "There are absolutely no movements now."

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"Let go of me!!" Lily said in a half-asleep tone. _Shucks!! I'm feeling drowsy and I'm still stuck in this idiot's arm._ There was no reply or movement from James' side. "You're not asleep, right??" Lily elbowed James but he still had no respond. _This is making me sleepy. _Lily could feel that her eyelids were feeling heavier by the second. Before she knew it, she was asleep.

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"GOTCHA!!"

"Caught in the act!!"

"HAHAHA!!"

"WOOOAHHH!!"

"James and Lily Potter!!"

"Shit!!" James jumped up, releasing Lily immediately and ran away from the group of students.

"Oh no!!" Lily muttered and covered her reddened face with her hand. _I'm going to kill that idiot James Potter!!_

"Lily, I didn't know you and James _were together_." Samantha said in a teasing tone.

"I'm not!!" Lily denied.

"Then why are you two _hugging_ together??" Joey asked.

"I wasn't _hugging_ him!!"

"Then why is he _hugging _you??" Stefanie grinned.

"I – never mind." Lily supported her head with her palm while her elbows supported by her knees.

"Tell us!!"

"Nothing going on between us!!"

"That's hard to believe considering you two had been hugging for the last hour."

"Drats!! I'm so going to kill that idiot!!"

"He's your – _boyfriend_."

"No!! No!! He isn't!!"

"What do you call a guy who hug you??"

"Boyfriend!!" Samantha laughed while Lily remained silent, fuming at James.

"I'm getting out of here." Lily shook her head and left her three girlfriends by the lake. _This is so humiliating. I'm going to kill James, that idiot, that piece of shit, that crazy guy, that idiotic bastard!! _A voice inside her was screaming out loud.

Everyone was looking at Lily as she stormed past the students. It seemed like nearly all of them saw what was happening and giggling among themselves. She chose to ignore all their questions and chuckles and headed straight back to her dormitory. _I just want to hide from the world right now!! But after that I'm going to kill that shitty bastard James Potter._

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"Why didn't you tell us that you and Lily are together??" Sirius was confronting the red-faced James behind the tree. The guys had no problems catching up with James. By now most of the student population had dispersed after catching Lily and James' rendezvous.

"Well-" James was at a loss of words.

"Well??" Remus penetrating look was questioning.

"So you and Lily are official now??" Peter asked, grinning as silly as Sirius and Remus. Even Ted and Alex were at the confrontation.

"I don't know what Lily thinks though." James admitted.

"So it's one-sided??" Sirius concluded questioningly.

"She definitely isn't looking very happy about this." Remus pointed at the retreating Lily. She was storming off back to the castle. Stefanie, Samantha and Joey went over to join the guys, and the four first years.

"I've never seen Lily as angry as this before." Stefanie told James.

"Now she's really pissed." Joey said.

"You better apologize or something." Samantha advised.

"You've got her into this mess." Sirius was pointing his finger at James.

"I'll settle it." James said confidently. _And make her mine._ He left his friends standing under the tree and returned to the castle alone. _Ok, so now what??___

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"Disgusting!!" Lily scolded herself. She was having an exfoliating scrub shower in the bathroom. Everything had happened so fast and her mind was in a mess. "Idiot!! Idiot!! Idiot!!" She applied the body scrub in a circular motion as the water rained over her body. _How could I let that jerk touch me in the first place??_ She was still mad, very mad at James for his brainless actions. _Wait till I kill him._ Lily was having murderous thoughts on revenge to get back at James. "Jerk!! Bastard!! Idiot!!"

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"So what am I supposed to do??" James asked his reflection in the mirror. _It was a sweet feeling._ He smiled at the thought of hugging Lily, having her close to him. _Apologize?? _"Lily, I'm sorry about what happened." James talked to his reflection. "Nah, this won't do." He washed his face with some tap water and looked at himself again. "Lils, I just want to apologize. Please forgive me." He shook his head. "Too corny." _I'm getting crazy. Talking to my reflection. Totally ridiculous._ James dried his hair and body and put on his clothes, feeling much more refreshed than before.

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"I'm going to kill James Potter." Lily muttered to no one. She was hiding in the bed under the comforters, curtains drawn. "Landed me in this mess." She was imagining the talk of dinner that evening was all about the 'secret rendezvous' of the Head Girl and Boy by the lake. "I'm going nuts." She closed her eyes, trying to catch some sleep, hoping that what had happened was nothing but a nightmare. _I hate James.. I hate James.. I hate James.. I hate.. _The next moment, she was sound asleep.


	101. Ever After

**Chapter 100: Ever After**

"So that's the end of the story. The Prince and Princess live happily ever after." Sirius said in a super dramatic tone. Many students approached the remaining three Marauders during dinner to ask about the happenings between the Head Boy and Girl.

"That's so sweet!!" Gracie exclaimed. Many 'awws' were heard at the various parts of the Gryffindor table. Sirius had taken the opportunity to publicize the 'affair' to the rest of the Gryffindors since both the victims were absent for dinner.

"Sirius is exaggerating. There wasn't _any_ passionate kissing scenes and definitely they didn't make out under the sun in the shade." Remus corrected. The group laughed at Sirius' comical expression from Remus' statement.

"Ok, Remus, you do the story telling." Sirius announced to the rest of the audience.

"Basically they just chat and hug for approximately - say three hours." Remus summarized the whole event in just one sentence.

"Huh?? That's all." Many students gave disappointed looks.

"Can you repeat the whole thing again??" Another student requested.

"I thought I finished the story with 'happily ever after'??" Sirius questioned.

"The whole thing sounded too good to be true."

"It's like the Prince and Princess kind of story, and this is happening for real."

"Ok, ok, let me start from the beginning again. For all those who want to hear the full details of what happened between the famous James Potter love life, please come closer." Sirius was standing on the chair with a crowd of audience surrounding him. For once, he actually ate very little and did very much talking during dinner. "It all started when James followed Lily out of the common room earlier this afternoon.." The ever-expanding group of students listened in awed and in doubt of the newly formed couple.

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"Something tells me that Lily might kill James when she sees him." Stefanie commented. The three girls, along with Kate and Andromeda were sitting at one side of the table having their little private conversation and dinner. The rest of the Gryffindor crowd was surrounding the Marauders, listening to their exaggerations of the day's event.

"If she knows what the rest of the Marauders did, she might kill all four." Samantha joked, pointing at the other side of the table where Sirius' stood above the rest, talking animatedly with hand gestures and melodramatic effects.

"Well, it's difficult not to imagine things going on between them when both went missing immediately after just now." Joey reasoned. "Although we know Lily is in the dorm, what about James??" The rest replied with a shrug, though curious what would James be doing.

"Trust Lily to be sleeping at this point of time." Samantha shook her head slightly.

"Well, it is quite tiring to be struggling all afternoon." Stefanie kidded. It was difficult not to make a joke out of the afternoon incident.

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_Ok, this is probably the best time to go over to the girls' dorm. Everyone should be having his or her dinner now._ James stood up suddenly, made up his mind and went down to the common room, which connected the girls' dormitory. _Just maintain the Potter's cool and calm attitude and everything will be fine._ He walked down the steps much slower than he expected. _Hmm.. what should I say??_

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_"Shall we go for a walk??" James asked casually. For some reason, both of them were walking alone along the Hogwarts corridor._

_"Erm.. alright." Lily was surprised at her own response._

_"So how are you??"_

_"Huh?? Ok??"_

_"So we're officially an item now??"_

_"Actually I rather not."_

_"Why??"_

_"I don't know. Just don't feel like having a boyfriend I guess. I love my freedom."_

_"I'm not a control freak or anything. You know me not enough that I'm not someone possessive, right??"_

_"To me it just doesn't sounds right being somebody's girlfriend. If you know what I mean."_

_"I don't know what you mean. It sounds perfectly okay being James' girlfriend."_

_"I'm just confused."_

_"Over what??"_

_"Everything happened too suddenly I supposed."_

_"I'm not rushing you into anything."_

_"Never mind, just give me some peace for goodness sake."_

_"You hasn't answer my question yet."_

Lily's opened her eyes so suddenly. "Strange dream." She muttered and shook her head to clear her mind a little.

_Rumbling!!_ "Great, what a time to get hungry." She forced herself out of her bed, threw her pillow back to her bed and decided to wash up.

"Me and James??" She asked her reflection.

"Sounds compatible." The mirror replied.

"Not you as well." Lily splashed some water onto her face and rinsed her mouth. She splattered some water onto the mirror surface.

"I know I'm just a mirror." The mirror muttered.

"Sorry, don't mean that. Anyway it's a long story." Looking at her reflection once more to make sure she looked presentable and she left her dormitory. _Great. I just became the joke of the day. _"Stupid James!!" She muttered as she dragged herself down the stairs. _Luckily everyone is at the Great Hall. Maybe it's a good time to sneak to the kitchen and run back._ She increased her speed down the stairs with newfound enthusiasm.

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"Lil-" James called out subconsciously but stopped immediately when he saw Lily's expression. It showed a mixture of anger and confusion, an expression that he never seen before. _Looks like I better keep a distance away._ James stopped in his steps as he watched Lily exited the Gryffindor common room hastily. _That's so unlike James Potter. I always get what I want._ With determination and a little fear of rejection, he followed Lily out, again.

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"Great, people are giving me funny looks now." Lily was ignoring the tenth group of students she came across as she made her way down to the kitchens. The current group of third year Hufflepuffs was giggling as they walked past her, giving her strange looks. _Remind me to kill James when I see him. _She told herself silently and was breaking into slow run instead of the initial brief walking.

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_What the hell is going on?? Everyone is shooting me with funny expressions._ James thought as he returned a smile at a group of younger students from Ravenclaw and they burst into hysterical giggles. _Remind me to ask Remus what's on earth is going on._ James, on one hand, wanted to catch up with Lily, but on the other hand, with so many students loitering around, it was better to remain that way.

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_Rumbling.._

Lily walked along the sides of the wall and avoided the stares from the rest of the students. In front of the portrait of the fruit bowl, making sure no one was around; she quickly tickled the pear and climbed into the kitchen.

"Good afternoon, Miss Lily, what would you like to eat??" A friendly house elf approached her, glad that they had visitors.

"Anything for dinner." Lily said without much energy. It had been a hungry day.

"Be right back." Several house elves hurried back into deeper part of the kitchens to fetch the food for Lily. Most of the house elves were busied preparing food for the rest of the teachers and students who were having their dinner upstairs in the Great Hall.

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"What's so funny??" James asked a group of boys who burst into laughter the moment he walked past. The group of younger Ravenclaws shot Lily a look who was about three meters ahead of him, and then turned back to him before starting to laugh again. 

_This is getting ridiculous!! _He wanted to interrogate the group of boys but they ran off quickly. _I've this gut feeling that all these got something to do with Sirius._

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"So do you think James and Lily are together now since they are not at the Hall for dinner??" A curious Gryffindor asked. Inquisitive students were still bombarding the Marauders after all that they had broadcasted during dinnertime.

"Well, they can be anywhere. But chances of them together are high." Sirius told the group as they neared the Gryffindor tower.

"Aren't they hungry after such an exciting afternoon??" Some questions were totally ridiculous but the Marauders happened to enjoy all the attention they were receiving.

"I suppose love can be quite – filling, on its own??" Sirius replied to the student who was on his left.

"Look, I think we had quite an enough session of James' love story. The rest of it will be for you to see. So check them out around corridors or classes or mealtimes on yourself. There's only so much to be said by us." Remus told the probing students as he shot Sirius and Peter a look. They nodded in understanding and retreated slowly off the crowd. There were murmurings and nods among the students as they stopped shooting questions for a few seconds. Seizing that opportunity, the three Marauders made a dash up to their dormitory.

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_Okay, I'm hungry, and that's why I'm at the kitchens. _James thought. Making sure there was no one around, he tickled the pear and the door swung open. _Lily is here. _James slapped himself mentally. _Obviously she's here. You followed her!!_

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"Good afternoon Mr. James." Several house elves rushed towards the entrance of the kitchen. Lily was horrified for a moment but anger came over her. She turned around and caught an eye contact with James.

"Dinner please."

James smiled warmly at her as if whatever happened in the afternoon ceased to exist. She clenched her fists and stood up. Hunger forgotten. The plate of food in front of her was forgotten. _Now I'm going to kill that jerk._

"Hi Lily." James greeted her as she approached him.

"Hello James." Lily faked a sweet smile and sent a punch at James' left eye.

"What's-" He was confused what was that punch for.

"This is for you." Lily's tone was calm but full of anger. She sent another punch onto his left cheek.

"Stop that." _What on earth is she trying to do??_ James grabbed hold of Lily's right hand before she tried to send another punch on his face. "What are you trying to do??"

"You still have the cheek to ask." Lily sent her left fist towards James' stomach, which caused him to arch forward. James released her hand instantly and touched the newly inflicted wound on his stomach.

"That hurts a lot." James winced in pain. "Never knew you are such a strong girl." He tried to lighten the mood a little.

"I'm stronger than that." Lily replied furiously and gave a hard kick on James' left shin with her right foot.

"Aaahhhh!!" James' left leg gave way and he kneed down while his hands were still clenching on his injured stomach. "Can you please stop that??"

"Not so soon." Lily gave an even harder kick on his right shin that caused James to knee down totally.

"That's enough!!" _What the hell is she think she is doing?!?_ He struggled to stand up again and raised his right hand threatening to hit her.

"I dare you to hit me." Lily said defiantly as she glared straight at James. There was no way he would want to hurt Lily.

"You know I won't want to hit you." James' voice was softer and not so hostile.

"But I still want to hit you." Lily moved closer to James' body. Remaining eye contact with James to divert his attention, she raised her right leg and aimed straight at James' private part.

"OOUUCCHH!!" Lily jumped aside as James' hand flew down to his crotch. It was so painful that he could barely stand upright.

"Why did you do that??" James was bending so low that he was squatting down; his hands never left his crotch for the pain was too tough to bear.

"Because of what you did just now." Lily's anger was slightly appeased as her tone was not as harsh as earlier on.

"B-but I didn't do anything." James defended. _What did I do wrong??_

"Still dare to say you didn't do anything??" Lily said in a pretended sweet voice which James' did not noticed the pretence behind it. She supported herself with her left hand against the wall, and while James was unaware, she kicked him again and left a dirty shoeprint on his face.

"Are you trying to kill me??" James cringed as he lain on the ground by his side. Both hands shielding his crotch for his dear life, back arched and knee against his chest, face dirtied, he was feeling ultra weak as the minute tickled.

"You got straight to the point." Lily went forward and before her next kick hit James' face, she was pulled back. "Hey, let me go."

"Mr. James in pain." One house elf said as he went forward to examine him.

"Painful. Painful." Another house elf that gripped tightly onto her right hand said.

"Lily, please stop." James was in a semi-conscious state, eyes half closed.

"Okay, I stop. Can you guys release me??" Lily said in her normal voice.

"Promise??" James muttered barely with any energy.

"At least for now I'm not going to hit you." The two house elves that were holding onto each of her hand slowly released their grip. "Serve you right. You deserved that." Lily turned back to her bench where she was sitting earlier before the interruption and continued her dinner.

"Mr. James needs the hospital wing." A house elf commanded. Several house elves used magic and conjured a stretcher to take James to the hospital wing.

"It's wrong to beat people." A house elf told Lily.

"He deserved it." Lily told the listening house elves as she finished her remaining dinner. _It feels so good after beating him up._ She smiled in a sense of satisfaction.

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"Prongs!! We're back!!" Sirius announced as he stepped into their dormitory.

"He's not around." Peter replied.

"Let me guess. He's with Lily now!!" Sirius placed his two index fingers on his temples, pretending to be tracking James down.

"Get the map and we will know for sure." Remus suggested before heading towards the bathroom for biological reason.

"Prongs took the map!!" Sirius shouted after ransacking all their belongings.

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"Professor, I'm here to confess an offence." Lily headed straight to Dumbledore's office straight after her dinner.

"What is it??" Professor Dumbledore and McGonagall raised their brows in surprised. Both Professors were in the office having some discussion when Lily interrupted them.

"I beat up James Potter." Lily admitted without any slight remorse or guilt.

"Why??" Professor McGonagall asked.

"He offended me." Lily said simply.

"What was the offence??"

"He sexually harassed me in the public." Lily summarized the afternoon incident to both the Professors, omitting some details out.

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"What did you do??" Stefanie asked in disbelief. Lily had returned back to their dormitory long after dinnertime and the four girls were filled with questions for her.

"I thought I just told you??" Lily was taking it far too casually.

"You beat James up in the kitchen and went to confess to Dumbledore and McGonagall!!" Samantha repeated the important point.

"Yup. You've got that right." Lily smiled. "I'm all sweaty after beating him up." She grabbed her towel and cleaned clothes and went straight to the unoccupied bathroom.

"He didn't retaliate??" Joey asked.

"He nearly did. But when I dared him, he put down his hand."

"At least he is still a gentleman."

"Whatever." Lily was about to close the bathroom door.

"One more question." Samantha asked.

"What??" Lily tilted her head a little to her right.

"Where did you hit??"

"Or kicked??"

"Or punched??"


	102. Love Is In The Air

**Chapter 101: Love is in the air**

"PRONGS!!" Sirius ran over to James' bedside. When James did not returned to their dormitory by midnight, they knew something was seriously wrong. Remus had sneaked over to the girls' dormitory to ask Stefanie about James' whereabouts.

"SSSHHHHH!!" Madam Pomfrey came over to the over-excited guys before they started doing anything drastic.

"Sorry." Remus said in a much softer voice. "What happened to James??" He asked the school nurse.

"He was beaten up and sent here in a near unconscious state." Madam Pomfrey had an amused look on her instead of a sympathetic one. "Nothing serious, just some superficial wounds."

"Who beat him up??" Sirius frowned. "He is definitely strong enough to fight anyone."

"Lily did that." Madam Pomfrey smiled slightly. "I'm amazed by her strength too. Do you have any idea why she did that?? It's not like her to be so violent."

"We don't know either." Remus exchanged a look with Sirius.

"I supposed it got to do with this afternoon incident." She said to herself as she left the ward to the guys. The three guys shared a how-did-she-know look.

"Even she knows." Remus grinned as she pointed at the retreating Madam Pomfrey.

"Our publicity must have been great." Sirius told them. "Prongs!!" He started shaking his unconscious friend.

"Aahh.." James groaned slightly with the violent movement Sirius was doing.

"Finally you are awake." Sirius was going hyper. "Tell us how did you end up like this??"

"Huh.." James replied weakly.

"How did Lily beat you up until like this??" Sirius was far too excited to allow James to rest.

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"This is freeeezing!!"

"It's just for a short while!!"

"I'm coooold!!"

"C'mon, you want a girlfriend or not??"

"But-"

"No more buts, just endure."

"But what if Lily-"

"It's just a little joke."

"And if she-"

"Just soak!!"

"Brrrr.."

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"Lily!! Lily!! You've got to see James immediately!!" Remus' tone was filled with urgency.

"Huh??" Lily raised her eyebrows in suspicious surprise. "What happened to him??"

"You beat him up, remember??" Remus was pushing Lily from her back. "Wait, I got to wait for Stef, she's in the washroom."

"Ok, then can you go straight to the hospital wing?? James asked for you." Remus was pushing Lily towards the direction of the hospital wing.

"What's happening??" Stefanie came out of the bathroom, exchanging a look with Remus.

"James – we don't know what's wrong with him. But he's icy cold." Remus sounded a little panicky.

"Lils, I think we better hurry up." Stefanie grabbed onto Lily's right hand and broke into a run.

_Stef is still better at that._ He watched the running figures of Stefanie and Lily in front and broke into a slow jog to catch up with the two girls. _Luckily she knew about it._

"I don't think it was anywhere near-" Lily was panting slightly, "that serious."

"It might be _fatal_!!" Stefanie told her.

"But it's just some bruises." Lily defended. _It can't be that bad can it??_

"You never know!!" Stefanie was literally dragging her into the hospital wing. "Finally." Both girls were panting slightly after the entire running along corridors and up some flights of stairs.

"What happened to him??" Lily asked Sirius who was sitting by James' bedside. Sirius looked up sadly, and looked at James, and then gave a totally devastated look. James was lying motionlessly on the bed, eyes closed, looking very peaceful. _I thought I saw him shivered._

"Hey!!" Lily tried to wake James up but her hands shot up upon contact with him. "Woah!! Why is he so cold??"

"He's getting colder by the minute." Sirius said solemnly. While Lily was not looking, he gave Remus a thumb-up sign. "He's-" Sirius shook his head and looked on the floor, looking very depressed.

"Hey James!! You better wake up." Lily was getting a little worried. "Don't scare me." James still showed no sign of consciousness.

"We're afraid that he-" Remus added. Stefanie shot him a look and he stopped abruptly.

"I didn't beat you up that badly!!" Lily was getting more anxious. "You can't _die_ just like that!!" She looked at the three friends who were having the same grave expressions. "I promise I won't beat you up anymore!! Wake up!!" Lily was tugging James' hand wildly. "Wait a minute, don't I have the healing power??" She frowned slightly. "His hand is getting warmer."

"Really??" Sirius pretended to be surprised at the 'new' discovery. "You healed him!!"

"I thought I should be able to." Lily was holding onto James' right hand as she spoke. "His hand is still a little cold. Why don't we get Pomfrey??"

"She had already come by just before you came." Sirius told her.

"Did someone call for me??" Madam Pomfrey's head popped through the drawn curtains around James' bed.

"Madam Pomfrey, how's James??" Lily asked.

"Nothing serious, my dear." Madam Pomfrey assured her. "Just some superficial injuries."

"But his body is like so cold!!" Lily said, her hand still held onto James.

"It must be the ice-bath he took before you came." The school nurse was more honest than she should have.

"Oh." Understanding dawned upon Lily. "I see. Thanks Madam Pomfrey."

"You're welcome. Don't make too much noise." Madam Pomfrey retreated back. "So Peter, what else do you want to ask me about medicine??" They heard her voice behind the curtain.

"You can't _die_ just like that!!" Sirius wailed slightly, over exaggerating Lily's earlier action, as he tugged James' left hand. The three of them burst into laughter together.

"Cut!!" Remus said. "The whole thing was perfect!!" Even Stefanie grinned at her friend.

"So that was a joke to get back at me, huh??" Lily was fuming and glared at James.

"That wasn't my idea. It was Sirius and he-"

BBIISSHH!!

Lily punched James on his nose and climbed and sat on his chest while continuing a wild attempt to strangle him.

"Help!!" James called out as he struggled underneath Lily but her legs was pining James' hand on the bed.

"Calm down!!" Stefanie said soothingly while Sirius and Remus carried Lily off James.

"Let me kill that idiot!!" Lily struggled and in the midst of chaos, one of her wild kicks hit James on his stomach.

"Oouch!!" Sirius and Remus pulled Lily further away from James to prevent any more injuries. 

"You don't want to kill your boyfriend, right??" Sirius teased.

"First point, he's not my boyfriend." She dashed forward to James while Sirius and Remus loosened their grip. "Second point, I do want to kill him!!" Lily was giving him a few combo punches on James' face before Sirius and Remus grabbed hold of her again.

"Just calm down!!" James edged back a little in case Lily attempted to attack him again. "Sirius is just teasing you."

"Then I make sure Sirius _was_ teasing me." Lily was seething in anger and kicked Sirius on his right shin.

"OUCH!!" Sirius let go of Lily instantly. "Spare me, your Highness."

"Please keep the noise level at the minimum." Madam Pomfrey poked her head into the curtain to remind the five of them.

"I thought we already cast the sound proof charm??" Stefanie told them but apparently they were more worried about Lily's attacking power than Madam Pomfrey's prying ears.

"Wait till I lay my hands on you." Lily gave James a death glare and kicked Remus' right shin. And obviously he let go of her due to the newly inflicted pain.

"Ouch!!" Remus bent down to hold his injured shin. "Prongs, beware!!"

"I'll be waiting." James was chuckling slightly. _All I need is just lift her up and she'll be begging me to let her down._ He was sitting at the edge of the bed, getting prepared to stand up in case there was a need.

"Lils, I think we better make a move first." Stefanie intervened before Lily even reached James. She started pulling her out of the hospital wing with force.

"Wait, I'm not done with that guy yet." Lily wanted to turn back but followed Stefanie's tug still.

"You'll have more chances to deal with him. At least let him rest in some peace for now."

"I'm not mad at you for being in cahoots with them for tricking me and you're still asking for more." Lily reprimanded her friend in a nicer manner.

"That's because I knew you will never do something like that to me." Stefanie grinned and released Lily's hand. It was quite some distance from the hospital wing now and Lily's mood seemed to be quiet down.

"Do you really wanna know what I can do on you??" Lily said slyly and started tickling Stefanie's sides.

"AAHHH!! I really don't want to know what you can do!!" Stefanie was ducking away from Lily, and screaming a little.

"You really don't want to know??" Lily tickled even harder which made Stefanie shrieked louder and attempting to run away.

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"Hey Lily."

"Huh??" Lily turned around and faced James. "Hi, James." Both of them were feeling a little awkward, though strange feelings would be more appropriate in this sense.

"Just wanted to ask you something actually." James looked at her then looked elsewhere, trying to gather his thoughts.

"Ooh." _This is getting bad. How am I going to escape??_

"Actually I want to ask-"

"I think it's better for us to patrol different areas-" Lily interrupted. "So we can sleep earlier." She completed lamely.

"Er, alright." James agreed. Lily made a right turn while James made a left turn. "Lily."

"Anything else??" Lily turned around to face James for the second time that night.  
  


"Just wanted to ask-," James said, not looking at Lily. "When shall we discuss about our school event?? You know, the Night Flying and stuffs, with the prefects."

"Oh, that." Lily silently heaved a sign of relief. "We get a prefects meeting next week, on Wednesday evening perhaps??"

"Sounds fine to me."

"That's settles it then."

"I guess we better finish our rounds soon." James said after a moment of silence. "Then both of us can get a longer night rest."

"Okay, see ya then." Lily turned and walked off as normally as she could. _This is so so so horrifying. At least James didn't say stuffs that will make things awkward between us. _She increased her pace a little, trying to get further from the spot where she met James. _I better get this done quickly so I won't need to see him again. _She had been purposely avoiding James after the hospital incident. _Argh, I'll still see him like ten times a day excluding all prefects duties._

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"This is so unlike myself!!" James muttered, chiding himself for making such a stupid conversation. _Anyway what would I say??_ He continued walking without any focus, not noticing two first-years who just walked past him.

"JAMES!!" The two boys jumped before James from his back and gave him a surprised.

"Woah!!" James returned to the conscious state. "What are you two doing out at this time of the night??"

"Why are you looking so glum??" Ted asked to avoid James' question.

"No, I'm not."

"The word gloom and glum is written all over your face." Alex added.

"C'mon, let me take you two back to the tower." James was shoving slightly the two boys towards the direction of their tower.

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_Maybe I had been a little mean to James. He's been a great friend and everything. _Lily sighed. _Maybe like what the others have said, I should give him a chance or something. _She tried to think the whole incident in a different prospective, more of from James' point of view. _I guess I just got to see how things work out._ The whole confused expression was shown on her face. _It seems like I've been rather bitchy over the thing._

"So, what's now??" She asked herself, not noticing that she was already at the entrance of Gryffindor tower.

"That's not the password, my dear." The Pink Lady replied.

"Oh, Sugar quills." Lily was suddenly awakened from a foreign voice other than her own. The portrait swung opened and she climbed into the Gryffindor common room.

"Hey Lily!!" Someone called her.

"Huh??" Lily said. "What are you guys doing here??"

"James is telling us a brilliant prank." Kate said. Andromeda, Ted and Alex were gathered at a corner of the common room.

"Sounds cool, what is it about??" Lily grinned as Kate led her towards the group.

"Hey Lily, James was telling us about the Marauders' pranking history." Andromeda said. The four first-years were never more awake than this.

"What's with this little gathering at this time of the night??" Lily smiled, trying not to have any more than necessary eye contact with James, and yet keeping the tension away.

"Caught this two guys sneaking around." James placed both his hands on their backs. "And then who knows the _four_ of them were looking for the kitchens."

"What's with the kitchens??" Lily raised her eyes in surprise. "I supposed the house elves need their sleep as well."

"What do you think of peanut buttering brooms??" Ted asked Lily.

"Depends on whose brooms are you guys referring to." Lily's eyes showed signs of amusement.

"Anyone you want." Alex said.

"I seriously doubt the house elves would supply you the huge amount of peanut butter for a prank." Lily said thoughtfully.

"That's not a problem." Andromeda said. "Ted's got a trunk full of peanut butter."

"What's with that??" Lily could not help but laughed slightly. "A year supply of it??"

"I like peanut butter. Ok, not that much. But my mother insisted that I should bring some along." Ted was blushing slightly. "But I reckon I won't eat peanut butter again after this prank."

"Alex talked Ted into it and we're their accomplices." Kate said happily.

"Then why would you guys want to tell us about this??"

"Because you all are professionals at pranking." Alex said simply.

"I don't go around pranking other students. That's the Marauders' forte."

"But I've heard you all came up with some really amazing pranks too."

"Alright, just a couple over the last few years." Lily said humbly. "But it's nothing compared to what the Marauders did." She exchanged a look with James.

"Ok, let's get on with this discussion." James finally spoke since Lily joined the group. "Otherwise we don't need to sleep tonight."


	103. First Time Out

**Chapter 102: First Time Out**

"So we shall tryout the suggested route this Friday night??" James said finally. The prefects were having a meeting regarding the school event on a droning Wednesday evening. Although it was a much-anticipated event, one just could not help feeling drowsy after a day of lessons.

"So that's the end??" One fifth-year asked. He looked like he had just waked up from his daze.

"Yup. Gather by eight at the Charms classroom corridors." James instructed. "Late comers will not be entertained." Some Slytherins glared at James for his remark. The group of Slytherin prefects was late on purpose for this evening's meeting, which was no surprise to the rest.

"We need to inspect everyone's brooms to make sure they're safe for long distance." Sirius added. All the seventh-year Gryffindors were co-opt into the organizing committee for this particular major event and all of them were above-average fliers.

"If there's nothing else, this will be the end of tonight's meeting." James said finally. The lethargic students seemed to have gotten a newfound energy and left the classroom hastily.

"Hmm.. I think it's about time I service my broom." Sirius commented, stroking his chin. The nine Gryffindors was leaving together, waiting for one another along the way.

"Sirius, your broom is only three months old!!" Stefanie said. The group laughed at their little joke. Though Sirius was actually Stefanie's cousin, they were as close as twin brother and sister. The three guys had got new broomsticks, again, before school reopened earlier this year. Their parents had came visiting in Hogwarts, bringing them the newest broomsticks off the shelf, while Lily, Samantha and Joey inherited their previous ones.

"Oh ya. I suddenly realized that I had a new Lightning."

"Yeah, you can use your old Thunderbolt to sweep the floor."

"Our dorm floor is quite dirty, don't you think??" Sirius was crapping with Remus, putting an arm over his shoulder.

"Your dorm floor must be precious since you use a broom that cost a few thousand galleons to sweep it." Lily teased.

"The value depreciated after flying around for two years." Sirius turned around to reply Lily.

"Some people use the same broom for seven years, you know??" Samantha added.

"You don't really need to constantly buy new brooms to sweep the floor, do you??" Sirius seemed to have something witty to reply everyone.

"Sirius, never mind." Stefanie told him.

"You hasn't answer my question."

"Padfoot, it's bedtime." James told his buddy. They finally reached the Gryffindor tower with Sirius talking non-stop about the various functions of broom.

"I'm not tired yet." Sirius argued.

"Yeah, and the night is young." Lily added with a grin.

"High-five man!!" Sirius gave Lily a high-five.

"Better get some sleep. Otherwise we will be falling asleep at the greenhouse tomorrow morning." Remus reminded. The rating for how interesting the lesson for Herbology depended greatly on the plant they would be doing for the day.

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"Lily." Lily turned around at the familiar voice.

"Hi James." She said in her normal voice.

"Just wondering if you're free now." James asked. "Just a walk or something."

"Ok." _Might as well as face the fact._ "Walk to where??"

"The Room of Requirement??" James suggested.

"Ok."

"By the way, did you know what Sirius did after, erm, that afternoon??" James was lightening the mood a little.

"What??" Lily asked curiously.

"We weren't there for dinner, and Sirius had taken matters into his hand." James was laughing at the thought of interrogating Sirius a few days ago. "He publicized the whole afternoon incident, with his own drama and exaggeration."

"That figured why everyone was giving me strange looks ever since." Lily nodded with some understanding.

"Yeah, and I tried to strangle him at the dorm, the way you did on me."

"Eh.. Ok, that must have been pretty comical." Lily was laughing at the image of James sitting of Sirius' chest and having a wild attempt strangling session. "You won't kill him, he's your best bud."

"Well, you tried to kill me, remember??"

"Well.." Lily did not know how to answer that question. James was walking to and fro in front of the entrance of Room of Requirement.

"Let's get in." James told her when the door emerged suddenly. "Imagine Sirius is hiding behind some wall and pillar eavesdropping isn't exactly the thing I want."

"I don't want that either." Lily told him. "Oh, this looks just like your house." The room now resembled the Potter's fireplace, with the roaring fireplace at one side, their expensive Persian carpet in front and two large couches with a coffee table.

"This is probably the most cozy looking place I can imagine." James said. "Afterall I haven't been home for over a year."

"Yeah, our extended detention and stuff."

"Take a seat." Lily settled on one of the comfy sofas. "Imagine Sirius popping up at that fireplace."

"Theoretically impossible because this fireplace isn't connected to the Floo network."

"I don't know about that. Even if Sirius really appear, I won't be surprised."

"Seems like you're expecting him to pop out of nowhere."

"Not expecting. But he's always doing the unexpected." Lily grinned.

"Actually I asked you here is to talk about us."

"Oh, us." A strange wave of tension seemed to fall upon the room.

"I was wondering why you didn't want to be my girlfriend actually." James was very direct with his words.

"It's not you. I don't know. I don't like the idea of being somebody's girlfriend. I like my freedom. No. I love my freedom. It's just – I don't know. Weird??" Lily was blabbering slightly, not making too much sense.

"I won't be possessive or anything like that."

"I – I don't know."

"Everyone assumed that we're already a couple."

"I've noticed that."

"If you don't want, I can clarify with the rest. It's ok."

"Not that I don't want, its just – strange??"

"You can get over that strange idea. I'm sure."

"Are you hungry??" Lily asked suddenly.

"Oh, yeah." After James' comment, dinner popped up from nowhere on the coffee table. He helped himself with some finger food.

"Actually I think we can try and see how everything goes." Lily said and helped herself with a potato wedge. James choked on his food upon Lily's comment. "Hey, you okay??"

"Ya, I'm fine. Just a little taken aback by what you said." James was looking at Lily intensely.

"Oh."

"I'm really glad to hear that." James was grinning.

"Okay." Lily smiled back. The wave of tension had significantly reduced.

"Let's eat." James was sounding genuinely happy and both of them helped themselves to the food, suddenly feeling hungry.

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"They're at the Room of Requirement!!" Sirius shrieked. He had been studying the map for the last few minutes and concluded the whereabouts of James and Lily.

"Sirius, just give them some privacy." Stefanie told Sirius. She was hanging out at the boys' dormitory, doing her assignments with Remus.

"But this is a show not to be missed!!"

"Padfoot, cool off. You are not the lead character here." Remus told his buddy, without looking too interested in James' love life.

"Are the two dots sticking together or something??" Peter asked Sirius.

"Nope. They're separated. And the two dots seems quite still." Sirius was stroking his chin, trying to make some assumptions of what had happened in the room.

"Just leave them alone." Remus looked up. "I'm sure you won't want us prying into your love life."

"I don't mind. This shows how popular I'm to have paparazzi around."

"Because no one would be bothered to." Stefanie grinned.

"Let's continue with our work while Sirius is busy idling." Remus commented.

"That's a good oxymoron."

"Another good oxymoron is serious Sirius." 

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"This must be one of the happiest moment in my life." James told Lily.

"I doubt so. There has been many happy moments now and then."

"This is one of the best." James flashed one of his cute smiles.

"Ok, that's a cute smile." Lily smiled back. "If that's what you want to hear."

"Shall we go back now?? We need a good night rest for tomorrow's trip."

"Sure." They left the room and walked down the dark corridors. "We must have been inside for quite long."

"Yeah, it's about ten."

"I see." There was some sort of awkward silence around. Most of the students should be back in their dormitory, or at least not walking along corridors.

"James!! Lily!!"

"Ted, Alex, what are you two doing??" James raised his brows in surprised. "It's already curfew time."

"Not yet, fifteen more minutes to go." Alex told them. "We went to find the Slytherins tower." He said in a low voice, making sure there was no one around.

"Ooh." Understanding dawned the two seventh-years.

"I get what you mean." Lily grinned.

"Walls have ears. We talk when are back in the common room." James told the two boys. Together the four of them chatted all the way back to the Gryffindor tower.

"Actually the Slytherins live in the dungeons." James told the two boys. "But only the Slytherins know the password."

"Ooh. Then how are we going to peanut butter their brooms??" Alex said sounding disappointed.

"There're so many chances you can do it. But the most important point is 'don't get caught'." James told them in a serious tone. "Trust me. It's not going to be a pretty sight if that ever happens."

"I see the way you Marauders deal with Snape and Malfoy, it's pretty bad."

"It's mean. But the whole point is, we usually do something drastic to them when they did something to us first."

"Anyway there will be the quidditch practice now and then." Lily told them. "You can do something to the brooms at the changing room." She grinned mischievously.

"Great idea." Ted said. "But I've got a better suggestion."

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"Look, don't give me any excuses for being late." James said with authority. "We won't be inspecting your brooms for safety precaution. If anything happens, it will be your own responsibility." The six Slytherin prefects had just arrived, forty-five minutes after the supposedly meeting time.

"Our brooms are at perfect conditions. Who did you think you are?? The broom-man??" Severus said haughtily.

"Ok, since we're all ready. Let's go now." Lily intervened before the Marauders and Slytherins got the chance to argue, or even wizard duel.

"Stay close together." James told everyone. "Lily will cast the Disillusioned Charm on everyone. Get into a buddy system. In case anyone got lost, send out white sparks from your wand. Is everything clear??" Everyone was nodding his or her heads. Lily went around the room casting the Disillusioned Charm onto all fifth and sixth-years. The seventh-years had already learnt it.

"There's a chill down my spine." A fifth-year Ravenclaw prefect commented.

"That's normal." Lily smiled. She moved on to the next student.

"Let's go now." James announced after all of them had been charmed to blend into the surroundings. They got onto their brooms and flew out from the window. 

"Ouch!!" Someone yelped.

"Sorry!!" Another person replied.

"Don't poke me with your broom!!"

"Eeep!! I go slightly towards my right then."

"Don't make so much noise. We're flying rather low and this might attract unnecessary attention." Remus told the group of hyper fifth and sixth years.

"Okay."

"The person above me moves left please!! Your leg is kicking my head."

"Oops."

"This looks like a long tough night ahead." Lily told James. Both of them were leading the way. Remus and Stefanie were at the end. Sirius and Peter kept order at the left while Samantha and Joey on the right.

"Get your leg away!! It's polluting the air." Someone behind them called out.

"Your feet are polluting mine." Someone below replied.

"These don't seem like a good idea. Imagine the chaos the third and fourth-years are here." James replied.

"Ouch!! Don't fly so fast!!"

"Sorry!! I can't see you ahead."

"Maybe we should use the Fidelius Charm on the actual thing." Lily suggested.

"I was thinking around that as well. But for a trial, this isn't that bad."

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"What the hell are you doing??"

"Oops. What happened??"

"Your broom hit my face!!"

"Sorry!! I thought the person in front of me stopped."

"The Disillusioned Charm doesn't seem to be working the way we wanted it to." Stefanie told Remus, both of them were making sure no one stray off behind.

"I see what you mean." Remus ducked suddenly. "Hey, you in front don't stop suddenly."

"Sorry, Remus. I wasn't sure about the direction."

"Maybe we can try any charm. Or at least whoever flying should be able to see one another."

"I think that's true." It was Stefanie's turn to lower her broom. "Increase your speed a little to catch up." She told the student above her who was hovering very slowly.

"I'm afraid I might crash into someone ahead."

"Don't worry. Increase the speed a little. In fact you're lagging a little behind." The fifth year Ravenclaw flew slightly faster and Stefanie resumed her previous height.

"You okay??" Remus asked.

"Sure. Luckily we learnt about this in the last few Charms lesson."

"Otherwise – woah!!" Remus called out. "You, wrong direction!!" A straying student flew nearly off-track.

"Which way??"

"Turn to your right a little."

"Like this??"

"That's right."

"Don't fly too fast!!"

"Is this speed alright??"

"Yup. Keep it up."

"I think we should do something about this at our resting point." Stefanie told Remus. It was their responsibility to make sure all the students were well taken care of.

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"No worries. Sirius is here to protect you." Sirius was telling two of the fifth-years who were rather challenged by the idea of night flying.

"I don't know if I've the stamina. I'm not in the quidditch team-" The fifth-year girl said.

"Then after this event, you'll be the best Hufflepuff flier."

"Ok, concentrate. Don't bother so much about crashing or falling because that's not going to happen."

"Okay."

"Ouch!!"

"Oops!! Sorry."

"Don't slow down. The people behind might not see you."

"Ok, ok."

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"Careful!! Follow those in front." Samantha was telling the guy on her left.

"The problem is I can't see who is in front." The fifth-year Ravenclaw replied.

"I get what you mean. You'll get used to this." Joey replied. "Hey, you're flying too low." She dived down several meters to notify another straying student.

"Sorry, I can't really see who's ahead."

"We're here guiding you." Joey tried to get the fifth year upwards to join the rest. "Up fifth degrees, keep the speed."

"Wah!!" Another student above commented.

"Sorry!! Can't see you!!"

"It's okay."

"Are you two alright??" Joey asked in concern.  
  


"No problem."

"Doing great."

"Good."


	104. Break

**Chapter 103: Break**

"So far we've already gone for our first tryout two weeks ago." James was chairing his prefects' meeting as usual. "It wasn't successful, as all of you can tell. So if you've suggestions for improvements, don't hesitate to voice it out."

"I've a suggestion." Severus said from the back of the classroom.

"Yes??" James answered, fully expecting some stupid suggestion.

"Cancel it."

"No way." Murmurings were heard all over the classrooms, resisting the idea.

"I'm afraid that's not possible." James said coolly. The Slytherins had never been happy with the whole event; especially since Dumbledore and McGonagall gave permission that all the seventh-year Gryffindors would be co-opt to help to organize the event. "We had all put in so much effort in it. And I'm sure most of us are looking forward for the actual day."

"That's right." Students were mumbling among themselves.

"Okay, thanks for the suggestion, _Severus_." James said in his most unbiased voice. "Let's get back to the meeting." The prefects silenced down gradually. "So we shall have our second try-out somewhere in the week after when we return after the Christmas holidat. We've to make sure that it's safe enough even for the first-years."

"I would like to say something." Remus raised his hand and James nodded for him to continue. Since it was going to be discussing about the school event, the rest of the co-opt members were allowed for a sit-in. "Since the main problem that night was about not being able to see one another is solved, there's something else I would like to point out. It's the skill in night flying. I'm not saying you all are not good fliers, I'm saying along the lines of stamina and confidence." He paused to make sure the rest are listening. "Some of you had fears; some lost track; some gotten very tired; and problems with brooms as well. If that happened to about thirty of us, it will definitely happen when there's a hundred people flying out during that actual night. There will definitely be a lot of unexpected happenings, so just be prepared. We're supposed to be the ones to guide them, like the way we guided all of you through the night. I'll be telling lie if I said we were not exhausted halfway. This will be a challenging event for all of us, so just be prepared to expect the unexpected. Don't be surprised if a third year asked for a toilet somewhere in mid-air." The group laughed at Remus' little joke. "It might sound funny now. But when it really happened, what do you think you should do??"

"We can stop for a toilet break??"

"What happen we're flying above a forest??"

"Pee from the tree-top??"

"What happens if it's a girl??"

"We can all stop for a toilet break??"

"It is virtually impossible to stop in mid-air." Remus spoke about his rationale. "Certain things regarding the biological human are unfathomable. One way is that you inform any of us then we will take them to the next stopping point first and wait there for the rest of you."

"The possibilities of what might happen are unlimited." James said. "This is a new thing for all of us. So we're taking this challenging together."

"Bravo!!" A fifth-year Gryffindor commented jokingly and started clapping. The rest of the prefects followed suit.

"I got this query about the Disillusion Charm, although I know we're not going to use it anymore." A fifth-year Ravenclaw asked.

"Shoot." James replied.

"How did you guys managed to see us when we can barely see anything??"

"Actually we can't see who's who either. But you can see the slight refraction of the person's image. So we roughly know who's straying or what's happening. At least that's what we learnt during our lesson on the Disillusion Charm." James answered the fifth year that replied with a nod. "I think that will end our meeting for tonight. The next one will be the Wednesday after the break." James said. The prefects dispersed off from the classroom and headed back to their respective dormitories.

"I'm just so energized over this whole event." Sirius was back to the jumpy hyper-excited personality.

"That was fast!!" Lily teased.

"I was threatened that if I made a single noise during this meeting, _your boyfriend_ is going to kick me out of this thing." Sirius replied in a teasing tone.

"Well, continue being the good boy you was in the last hour." James interrupted the two and walked between them.

"Big boy is here to save his damsel in distress." Sirius had been teasing James and Lily as long as anyone could remember. There seemed to be nothing else to make fun in the last week.

"I'm no damsel in distress, okay." Lily told him. James placed an arm over her shoulders.

"Well, you are a damsel, and all damsels are in distress." James told her teasingly in a loving way.

"Now I see why you two can be such great friends." Lily rolled her eyes. The two guys laughed at Lily's annoyed look.

"You took a long time to figure that out." James grinned.

"Same sentiments exactly." Sirius said and both guys gave exchanged a high-five. Even Lily could not help but laughed at the two guys.

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"CHEERS!!" The five seventeen-year-olds shouted and they clinked their mugs of butterbeers together. They had gathered for a little Christmas celebration at the Room of Requirement on Christmas Eve since Dumbledore would definitely made everyone who stayed behind for the holiday to eat the Christmas dinner together. The usual three Marauders along with Lily and Stefanie were the only seventh-year Gryffindor who stayed behind for the break.

"Although this is not the actual Potter's dining room, it looks similar enough." Sirius commented. They had made the room to resemble some sort like part of the Potter's Manor.

"Sirius!! You really don't have to remind us, you know." Stefanie told him. "We're trying to convince ourselves that we're having some fun – outside – if your brain caught what I meant."

"Of course I know what you mean!!" Sirius exclaimed. "I'm not that dense."

"That's difficult to say." James added. "Sometimes our Padfoot here is known to have some non-commonsensical rationale."

"Let's not talk about Padfoot, it's kinda ego boosting for him." Remus changed the topic. "We don't really want to spend the whole Christmas Eve with someone who has a larger head than the body can take." The whole group laughed as they slurped down their butterbeers.

"Are we going to touch the food or just using them for décor??" James asked, eyeing the big turkey in front of him.

"I'm getting hungry before Sirius. That's terrible." Lily joked, with her silverware ready on her hands.

"Lily, admit it, you've caught the James' virus." Sirius told her. He sliced several huge portion of the turkey and placed on the others plate.

"Thanks!!" Lily raised her brows. "I'm surprised you didn't eat them first." The rest laughed together.

"I gotta help Prongs to make Lily the fattest pig in Hogwarts ever."

"Oh – thanks a lot." Lily wrinkled her nose teasingly and started helping her slice of turkey.

"Have you forgotten about me??" Stefanie poked Sirius' side.

"How could I ever forget my dearest most beloved Stefanie??" Sirius scoped two slices of turkey, with some salad and chicken wings onto Stefanie's plate.

"Ooo – not so much for round one." Stefanie laughed as she arranged her slightly overflowing food on her plate.

"Don't you dare to overfeed her!!" Remus teased. "She looks better this way."

"I was only thinking of making her the roundest girl around Hogwarts." Sirius continued taking bit of food from various plates and piled on Stefanie's. "Nothing much, really."

"Aahhh!! Enough!!" Stefanie took her plate and shielded it from Sirius while Remus pretended to protect her.

"Moony!!" Sirius said in a reprimanding tone. "Make sure Stefanie is well-nourished and well-fed always. Look at her, in skin and bones."

"I would have been happy if I'm slightly slimmer." Stefanie regained her composure by the table once Sirius helped himself with his food, onto his plate this time. "Remus had been feeding me with stuffs he gets from the kitchens now and then."

"You frequent the kitchens without us?!?" James said in a mocking tone. "How could you?? We starve together and we eat together!! And you – you forgot about us."

"Prongs, you look so funny trying to be dramatic." Sirius was laughing so hard at James' expression.

"I agree!!" Lily added and both of them gave each other a high-five with James in between.

"This is so humiliating!! One is my girlfriend and the other is my best friend." James pouted a little.

"Okay my dear." Lily tried to stifle her laughter a little. "Open your mouth.. Aaahhh.." She sent a piece of turkey into his mouth. "How's that??"

"Aaww.. that's so sweet.." Sirius was being over-reactive again. "I want that too."

"That's for you.. my _ddearr_.." James poked a piece of carrot from his plate and stuffed it into Sirius' opened mouth.

"Mmmhhhmmm.." Sirius closed his eyes and was savoring the taste of the plain baby carrot in his mouth, chewing slowly and licking his lips for extra effect. "Ddddelicious!!"  
  


"Of course it's delicious." James helped himself with the food, and at the same time feeding some to Lily. "It was filled with my, ahem, love."

"I knew it!! James loves me!!" Sirius was giving James a look of adoration and admiration, grasping onto his fork close to his chest. "Lily, I knew James loves me right from the beginning. The way he looks at me.. The way he talks to me.. The way he -" Sirius jumped up suddenly. "Ouch!!"

"Padfoot, cut the crap. We're trying to eat here and please don't ruin our appetite by showing your effeminate side, or should I say gay-like characteristics." Remus elbowed Sirius' side to stop him from continuing.

"Why is it always me acting stupid and trying to entertain everyone??" Sirius was talking normally as he continued eating. "You two never seem to have any entertainment genes."

"We're not natural entertainer like you, you see." Lily was the only one who answered Sirius while the rest continued to feast on their sumptuous dinner.

"Lils, ignore him." James told her. "Otherwise you'll never get to eat properly."

"Prongs!! So now everything Lily huh??" Remus teased.

"Precisely. What about me??" Sirius whined a little.

"Sometimes I wondered if the guys are gay or something." Lily told Stefanie across the table with heaps of food.

"I was wondering too. Perhaps we, the girlfriends, are used to hide their real sexual preferences."

"We can be lesbians too, can't we??" Lily winked at Stefanie.

"Definitely. By the way, did you guys know we're bisexual??" Stefanie asked as innocently as she could muster.

"No!!" James and Remus had answered simultaneously. Both girls reacted by bursting into hilarious laughter.

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"Lily, how long do you think we can last??" James asked Lily. The two of them were hanging out together at the boys' dormitory on a sunny afternoon on Boxing Day. Both of them had gone to shop for a Christmas present at Hogsmeade together earlier. Though it was a normal white tee-shirt, it was special because t was their first 'couple' shirt.

"Hmm.. Why did you ask that??" Lily looked at him in surprise.

"Just asking. I don't know." James shrugged. "So tell me what you think now that we've been together for a few weeks."

"Don't go and bother about it, let nature takes it course, I supposed." Lily settled comfortably on James' bed while he was sitting by his armchair. "Sometimes it backfires when we try too hard."

"You hasn't answer my question still."

"I certainly hope we'll be together forever until the end of our life. But things do change along the way. Feelings do change."

"At least now you can be sure things won't."

"Yeah, so I'll cherish you while you're still mine." Lily got up and gave James a quick soft kiss on his lips and returned to the bed once again.

"I just want you to know that I really love you a lot."

"It doesn't sound very sincere."

"It is. I meant it."

"Guys are guys. They never mean what they say."

"What are you trying to say??"

"Shall we not argue??"

"Who started it first??"

"Forget it."

"Fine."

"Hello!! You're throwing your temper at me for nothing."

"Sorry."

"Okay." Lily turned away from James and just closed her eyes. _Sometimes James is really driving me nuts!! How did I ever end up in this mess??_

"Sometimes little quarrels can add some spice into a couple life to make it more interesting." James suggested.

"Really?? Who told you that??"

"No one. I guessed that only."

"Okay." Lily replied. "I'll remember you say that the next time we quarrel."

"Fine." Both of them just remained silent, not knowing what to say next.

"James, am I such a lousy girlfriend??" Lily asked suddenly after a prolonged period of silence, not having eye contact.

"No."

"You sure??"

"Yes."

"You seem to be really bored."

"I'm not." James looked at Lily with an obvious face of boredom.

"I really don't know how to understand you if you're not speaking the truth to start with." Lily sighed. "Sometimes you're really nice and sweet, but sometimes we're together for don't know what reason."

"You regretted??"

"Some sort."

"Oh." James was upset at that comment. Having Lily was one of the best things that had happened to him but it was only a one-sided feeling.

"But I really like you too." Lily quickly added upon noticing James' rather dejected look.

"Thanks."

"Do you have anything else to say??" Lily turned to face James. He shook his head. "Do you prefer me to leave you to rest or anything??"

"Stay here. Don't go, please." Lily nodded and continued lying on his bed. It had been an awkward afternoon indeed.

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**_Rising of the Dark Lord_**

_          It had been known to everyone that Voldemort had been rising in power in the past few years. But lately, it seemed like he had reached his goal. Muggle killings, or in his term, "Mudbloods abolishment" had been getting more frequent than before._

_Just in the last two weeks, his group of Deatheaters using the Unforgivable Killing Curse had cruelly killed more than a hundred muggles and half-blood families._

_Our very own Minister of Magic had said: "We had been trying our best to capture the Deatheaters, and Voldemort ultimately. I can assure everyone that this group of evildoers would be eliminated in no time. Our heartfelt sympathy goes out to those who had suffered directly or indirectly to all these evildoings."_

"This Minster is like shit." Sirius yelled. "He can't do anything." A few scattered students turned around to look.

"Seriously who can do anything to Voldemort??" Remus asked. The owls had just delivered the Daily Prophet to those who subscribed to it.

"No point making such a big fuss either. What can we do about it anyway??" James said. It was one of the duller days of the Christmas holiday because Christmas was over and New Year was still two days away.

"Remus, since you can travel, you know, through time, do you think you can tell us what happen??" Lily asked in a softer voice to avoid others from eavesdropping.

"I never had been far enough to see him truly defeated, for some reason or other." Remus frowned. "But there was a period where he seemed to have disappeared, though I don't really know why."

"The seventh person still hasn't appeared. It had been so many years." Stefanie reminded them. "I wonder who he or she is."

"We're as clueless as you. No one, absolutely no one of that ability had crossed our path." Lily thought for a while.

"Besides Tom Riddle, that is." James said. "He's supposed to be the seventh person afterall. And we're here to kill him."

"There must be someone else out there, right??" Lily tried to sound more optimistic. None of them were able to reply her.


	105. Came and Gone

**Chapter 104: Came and Gone**

"What on earth is 'time' doing??" Lily whined. "It always move faster at the wrong time."

"Yeah, 'time' never do the right thing at the right time." Stefanie joked. Both girls were preparing for the New Year Eve dinner and countdown at the Great Hall.

"When was the last time we owled Bell??"

"Christmas day. Remember we owled her the present??"

"Oh, it felt like last year." Lily sighed. "I think I'm already starting to miss Hogwarts."

"I know what you mean 'coz I'm felling the same way too." Stefanie was brushing her dark brown hair in front of the mirror.

"The break seems to flew faster than we wanted it to." Lily sighed.

"In less than a year's time, we will never be seeing the Gryffindor dormitories in this way."

"Unless you return to be a Professor or something."

"Or another Pomfrey."

"Or perhaps another Filch." Lily joked and both girls laughed. The thought of having any of their friends that resembled their caretaker was hilarious.

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"Look, I've got this brilliant idea for our end-of-year prank this year." James was attempting to brush his hair, once again, while an idea flashed across his ingenious mind.

"Tell us about it." Remus raised his brows. Currently they were too busy with the N.E.W.T.S and school events to remember about pranks.

"Done." Sirius soundproofed their dormitory and they gathered together, the way they always did when they were coming up with some prank idea.

James whispered to the group about his idea and they looked at one another, grinning widely.

"That's absolutely brilliant." Sirius exclaimed. "I thought only I can come up with an idea like that."

"Then you're absolutely wrong because I always come up with better ideas than you." James smirked a little.

"Ok, this sounds rather challenging since we never done something remotely like this before." Remus was deep in thought.

"Head Boy coming up with such an idea, what is the earth becoming??" Peter joked.

"Oh Wormtail, I'm a Marauder, and that's why the pranking blood runs in me." James was ecstatic, it had been too long since they last pranked and this was going to be their last year in Hogwarts. 

"At least people will remember us in the time to come." Remus laughed. "It's kinda hilarious when you think about it."

"I think it's absolutely wonderful. It will be the talk of the century." Sirius was hopping around like a wild rabbit in the dormitory, leaping from bed to bed.

"I don't think anyone will talk about it for that long, perhaps for a decade or so."

"So what are we waiting for?? Let's hit the library." Sirius suggested. "We still have about an hour before dinner starts."

The four guys got ready within a minute and started heading towards the library. 

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"No one is around." Lily told Stefanie. The two girls had been knocking at the Marauders' dormitory door for the last five minutes.

"Strange, I thought we agreed to go for dinner together." Stefanie frowned a little.

"We did. I supposed they went without us." Lily suggested, sounding a little tinge of sadness.

"I guess so." Stefanie turned back and both girls started heading down the spiral staircase. "Let's go then."

"How could they go off like that without telling us at least??" Lily frowned a little.

"Unless they're discussing about a prank or something." Stefanie said automatically. "Everyone is excluded in the pranking discussions."

"Perhaps they are discussing somewhere out there." Lily suggested. The Gryffindor common room was emptied, since most students would rather be outdoors than staying at the eerily silent room.

"They would only be at the library if they're doing their pranking activities." Stefanie talked as if she understood the Marauders inside out. "Doing research or something."

"Wow!! How did you know??"

"One is my boyfriend, one is my brother, and the other is my neighbor for years, I supposed I ought to know the Marauders more than I would like to."

"When the Marauders hit the library on unusual days, it usually meant they had something up in their sleeves."

"That's what I'm wondering too." Stefanie spoke her thoughts.

"Let's make a detour to the library." Lily suggested. "If they're not there then we just head down for dinner without them."

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"10..! 9..! 8..! 7..! 6..! 5..! 4..! 3..! 2..! 1..!! Happy New Year!!" Everyone in the Great Hall chorused. Those who remained in Hogwarts were all gathered in the Great Hall.

"Cheers to a wonderful year for all!!" Dumbledore held out his goblet to make a toast.

"Cheers!!" Everyone followed and raised their goblets. The five Hogwarts ghosts, including Peeves, were dancing in mid-air as well. After the toast, everyone returned to their chitchats within their cliques.

"Professor!!" Sirius raised his hand.

"Yes??" Dumbledore raised his brows. Everyone turned to look at what Sirius was up to.

"Can we perform a song??" Sirius asked.

"What??" James and Remus gave Sirius a bewildered look.

"Just sing the song Only You." Sirius told the two surprised guys and stood up on his chair.

"Sure." Dumbledore smiled and started applauding. The other professors and female fans of Marauders started clapping as well.

"Looking from a window above, it's like a story of love." Sirius started and pointed to the starry ceiling. "Can you hear me??" He put his hands by his ear, dancing slightly as he sang. "Came back only yesterday, I'm moving further away, want you near me."

"All I needed was the love you gave." The three guys were now up on their chairs singing and dancing at the same time. "All I needed for another day." Lily and Stefanie started clapping to the rhythm. "And all I ever knew, only you." James pointed to Lily, Remus pointed to Stefanie, while Sirius pointed to the remaining girls.

"Sometimes when I think of your name," Remus looked at Stefanie as he sang, "when it's only a game, and I need you." James and Sirius were humming the tune as he continued singing to Stefanie. "Listen to the words that you say, it's harder to stay, when I see you."

"All I needed was the love you gave." James and Sirius joined Remus as they sang the chorus together. "All I needed for another day. And all I ever knew, only you." The three guys continued dancing on their chairs, capturing the attention of all in the Great Hall.

"This is going to take a long time and I wonder what's mine, can't take no more." James looked at Lily as he sang. "Wonder if you'll understand, it's just the touch of your hand," He bent forward to hold Lily's hand. "Behind a closed door." Remus bent forward and both girls laughed and gotten up on their chairs as well.

"All I needed was the love you gave." All three guys sang while dancing with the two girls. Sirius had went over and gotten McGonagall up to her feet, but not onto her chair. "All I needed for another day." Even McGonagall danced a little and could not help but smiled at the funny gesture. "And all I ever knew, only you." The three guys finished with the words then continued by humming the tune together as they end their dances.

"Thank you!!" The three Marauders bowed at their female dance partners and returned to their seats.

"That was very interesting, indeed." Dumbledore commented. "It's getting late, time for me to retreat." He stood up from his seat. The rest of the professors and students were getting up as well. "Good night." Everyone greeted each other 'good night' and heading back to their respective dormitories.

"You guys sang really well." Lily complimented.

"It was impromptu." James told her. "We just sang on the spot. Padfoot is trying to sabotage us."

"Precisely." Stefanie laughed. "But it was pretty fun, wasn't it??"

"It's fun because you were dancing with me." Remus placed his arm around Stefanie's shoulders.

"Then what about Sirius?? He's dancing with McGonagall." Lily laughed.

"You guys didn't even bother to wait for me. How could you??" Sirius ran up to catch up with the four of them. "So anyway, was that fun??"

"To answer your first statement, you were surrounded by girls who requested you to sing to them, so we decided to leave you to enjoy the luxury." James told him. "Secondly, it was fun, but a warning beforehand would be very much appreciated."

"Don't you think we always do better in this manner??" Sirius defended.

"Don't think we don't know you want to dance with McGonagall." Stefanie teased. "We knew you've been idolizing her ever since first year."

"You must kidding, she's old enough to be mum. Besides if I chose any other girls, it would be unfair to the rest of my admirers. If I dance with McGonagall, it would save everyone the trouble."

"It would save us a lot of trouble if you didn't initiate that." Remus grinned. "We were all enjoying our dinner while your ridiculous idea hit your head."

"That's the grand finale." Sirius told them in his reasonable way. "Those fans of ours would regret that they didn't stay back during the break to watch our performance."

"Then you could have done that years ago, maybe they might return on New Year's Eve just to watch you singing solo??"

"Nah, this is better." Sirius waved off Remus teasing remark. "Besides I just had the idea while eating. The song suddenly flashed across my mind."

"Okay, I'm sensing that Sirius might be doing lots of these stuffs throughout the rest of this year." James looked at Sirius suspiciously.

"I'm a good boy. I don't do any of 'these stuffs'." Sirius' most innocent look was plastered across his face, which seemed extremely phony.

"Yeah right, let's wait and see." Remus gave his buddy a pat on his back. "Just wait and see."

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"Aww, I really miss those times." The five of them traveled through time using Remus' power back to the past. They were hiding at the corner of the Great Hall behind the pillars to see themselves being sorted for the first day of school six years ago.

"Black, Sirius." Professor McGonagall's voice seemed to echo in the Great Hall.

"I didn't know I look that good when I was eleven." Sirius told them which earned a little punch from four different hands. "Ouch."

"Black, Stefanie."

"I look so stupid." Stefanie commented, looking at her eleven-year-old self, going up to take a seat under the Sorting Hat.

"You look beautiful, as always." Remus told her and planted a kiss on her cheek.

"Evans, Lily."

"I think I look so different."

"You're so much prettier now than before." James said frankly.

"Thank you very much but I really don't need to be reminded that I looked ugly back then."

"Figg, Arabella."

"Look, that's Bell." Sirius commented.

"We know."

"Lupin, Remus."

"You look so cute." Stefanie said.

"I'm always cute." Remus said in a teasing egoistic tone.

"Potter, James."

"I think I look different." James looked at the eleven-year-old boy, which was his past.

"You changed quite a fair bit in terms of looks as well." Lily told him.

"Let's get moving. That's the end of this part of the show." Remus held up his hands and the five were connected together once again. Eyes closed, swift movements, and the next thing they knew was that they were standing on their feet again.

"Oh my gosh!! I've forgotten all about the rabbit prank!!" Lily exclaimed. The group had traveled slightly back to reminisce about the past six years that they had spent together as friends.

"How could you??" James told her. "It was _so_ significant."

"If you considered that significant, then you must have missed out many more stuffs." Lily grinned. The rabbit prank was just one of their many little jokes throughout the whole school years. Several rabbits were hopping in front of them, as if they could sense their strange presence.

"Look!! That's us over there." Sirius pointed to the group of their younger selves at some distance away.

"Haha, we seemed to be playing quite happily with the rabbits – transfigured rabbits." Stefanie laughed slightly. The sight in front was supposed to be hilarious but they were feeling far too nostalgia to really laugh heartily.

"Oooh, more rabbits coming this way." Remus jumped back before something in their past touch him. "Let's proceed on." He grabbed Stefanie and James' hand, which was closest to him and they formed the circle again.

"When was this??" Lily asked. They were looking at a rather chaotic group of students who seemed to be heading back to their dormitory, on their first day of school or something.

"It's on our first day of school when we were in second year." Remus told them. "Remember the Lockhart twins??"

"Where are we??" Sirius was tiptoeing to look at the crowd of students who were congregated at the exit of the Great Hall, excitedly chattering about returning back to school.

"I think we were rather short back then. All the seniors are blocking us." Stefanie told him.

"I won't leave until I see myself." Sirius said without tearing his eyes away from the crowd.

"That sounds so narcissistic of you." James laughed.

"Thanks for reminding about my cousin." Sirius said sarcastically.

"At least there is some resemblance."

"Oh, don't remind me." Sirius finally turned back. "I give up. Let's move on."

"There we are." Stefanie was pointing at some students excitedly.

"Oh!! Isn't that us??" All five turned to look at the direction Stefanie was pointing.

"I think we stay here long enough. Let's go." With one last look at the group of young second-years, they held hands and closed their eyes again.

"This was the day where you guys won the quidditch match!!" Stefanie said with a jolt of recognition at the guys who were in a quidditch match. The group of them was slightly away from the pitch itself, but nevertheless, there was quite a good view without looking too conspicuous.

"You've got that right." Remus smiled. "We just got into the team that year, but the girls – ouch!!" Stefanie gave Remus a smack on his head. "What's that for??"

"You don't really need to remind us about you guys getting in but we didn't." Lily laughed at Remus and Stefanie who were attempting to hit one another lovingly.

"I think it's going to be another – say three hours – before this match ends." James said, shading his eyes a little as he looked up at the group of quidditch players who were flying at the pitch.

"Yeah. I think we can move on now." The group held hands again and started spinning to the next time frame.


	106. Journey Through The Past

**Chapter 105: Journey Through The Past**

WwwHHHHOOOooOSSSssssHHhhhh!!

"Hmm.." James looked up and frowned a little. "Isn't this the dramatic entrance made by the F4??"

"Yup. I can see Yvette over there." Lily pointed at the group of new Ravenclaws who were not in Hogwarts uniform. "It had been quite some time since I last seen her."

"I wonder how they're doing at the other side of earth." Remus asked no one in particular. "At least I believe they must be still having havoc."

"_Creating_ havoc would be more appropriate to describe those guys." Lily grinned.

"Just like the Marauders." Stefanie said and the two girls high-fived.

"Look at the little Marauders jealous faces." Lily said teasingly.

"What jealous faces??" James asked innocently.

"I saw that priceless expressions." Stefanie laughed slightly harder. The younger Marauders in the past had that jealous looks, they had denied it back then, and they were denying it once again.

"Never mind. You know, I know, that's enough." Lily told Stefanie in particular.

"Ok guys, its time to move on." Remus told the girls.

"Another guy is trying to defend about being jealous." Lily told Stefanie, pointing to Remus.

"Since when do we need to be jealous about the guys??" Remus said innocently. "Hey, you guys ready??" He asked the two other guys.

"Okay." The five held hands and Remus began to concentrate once again.

"We're at the pitch again." Sirius looked around. "And this match is – the one against Hufflepuff!!"

"Oh – that one that lasted for countless number of days." Stefanie repeated.

"Yeah, the one you fainted at the end." Remus told her.

"Oh, don't remind me."

"Which part of it are we at??" James asked around.

"I think the middle part where we were taking over the shift at night." Lily said, looking at the fliers above her.

"The part where we were against the F4 at night." James said as he caught sight of himself flying high above, as well as their competitors in another uniform.

"That was the longest match in Hogwarts history, I believe." Remus added.

"But it was really memorable." Stefanie told him.

"Definitely." Remus grinned. "There wouldn't be so much fun without the F4 around."

"Maybe we should apparate to meet them someday soon." James suggested.

"Enough over here. Let's go." Upon Remus' cue, they held hands and shut their eyes again.

"What a party!!" Sirius exclaimed. It was like the peak of the party. "When was this??"

"Look at that two." Stefanie pointed. "Remember the red and green highlights??"

"Oh, that party." Lily started laughing. "It was so funny!!"  
  


"The one in which Sirius did something to Bell's hair, and then Bell turned him in a human rolling ball." James started laughing. They were situated somewhere at the corner of the Great Hall where they were able to have a great view of the whole party.

"It's just so funny thinking about it even." Stefanie laughed. "You two were hilarious, you know that??" She turned to Sirius.

"Since when am I not funny??" Sirius asked the group. No one bothered to answer him because it was another of his stupid questions.

"Okay, better head off." Remus told the group. Sirius the rolling ball had entered the Great Hall and began to knock people off their feet. They held hands together quickly and repeated the whole procedures again.

"We're in Hogwarts corridor." James looked around. "Strange, when was this??" He turned to ask Remus.

"Make a guess." Remus grinned. "You will find out soon enough." As if it was a cue, some high pitch voices were heard at the end of the corridor. They quickly hit themselves behind the several large statues and kept a lookout for the incoming people.

"I was just suggesting. Your F-cup boobs and your twenty four inches waistline aren't exactly very proportionate."

"Your E-cup is weighing you down as well. And by the way you look horrible with rosy cheeks."

"At least my chest isn't as heavy as yours. You've got the biggest boobs in school, not to mention the saggiest."

"Well, I don't have cheeks like a monkey's butt."

"You've the most out of proportion body here. Everyone is staring at your boobs as if it was mutated."

"Not that yours have any more support than mine."

"Mine isn't as heavy, you see."

As soon as the Slytherins were out of sight, they slowly walked out from their hiding place.

"That was so - " Sirius was literally rolling on floor laughing out loud, "- funny!!"

"So _bimbotic_!!" James added and holding his stomach as he laughed.

"I was having a hard time controlling my laughter as they walked past." Lily laughed until her eyes were a little teary.

"I just can't stop laughing." Remus was laughing until he had to bend down slightly.

"Maybe we can do it on them again??" Sirius suggested. "For a nice good laugh."

"It's a pity we didn't get to see that scene back then."

"At least we saw it now and knew how they behaved back then."

"Better pick ourselves up. Otherwise we're going to spend our precious time laughing to our hearts content here." Remus stood up and pulled Stefanie back to her feet. The rest followed while they were still laughing rather heartily. "Ready folks??" Remus asked. The four only managed a mere nod in their midst of laughter.

"Now, where are we again??" James asked. The rest looked around as well. "Are we still at the same place??"

"Wait and you'll know." Remus shrugged.

"People coming. Hide!!" Sirius hissed and the five dived behind some statues once again.

"Woah!! Make way!!" An approaching boy's voice was heard. The five peeped to see what was happening. It appeared to be someone carrying a rather huge animal running past. They continued watching as the person running came closer and ran past their hiding place.

"That was Giant and I." Sirius blinked in amusement. "I don't remember acting so funny."

"That was you, alright." James was laughing. "Carrying Giant from the dungeons towards the lake."

"Remember your potion went wrong and Giant expanded until like no tomorrow." Lily could not help but laughed at the memory and the scene that played before her.

"Shall we follow and see what happens??" Stefanie asked. "We didn't get to see the part after he left the class."

"Sure!! What are we waiting for??" Remus grinned and the four headed towards the direction little Sirius went.

"Why don't we just give it a miss??" Sirius stood rooted at his previous position. "Let's move on in time."

"How can I miss something as interesting as Padfoot carrying a squid??" The rest laughed even harder upon James' comment. Since most of the students were having lessons, they had little problems hiding from the rest of the student's eyes.

"Oh Merlin, did you see that??" Stefanie told the rest.

"I don't think I missed the part about Sirius kissing Giant." The whole group laughed even harder than before upon the sight of Sirius kissing the expanding squid.

"That's not funny." Sirius' face turned into a shade of red behind them. He refused to watch himself behind humiliated.

"I didn't know you were that sentimental." James told him. "But that was, ahem, cute." He burst into laughter again.

"Let's go, classes are ending soon and we're at some prominent spot." Remus told them and grabbed the two boys with him. Repeating the usual time traveling procedures again, they held hands and eyes closed tightly but that did not managed to stop them from laughing at Sirius.

"Looks dark." Stefanie commented. The Great Hall was rather dark except for the lit candles by the walls.

"What's that thing in front??" James asked, pointing at the silhouette of four rectangular objects at the front of the Hall.

"Ooh!! That bed thingie." Lily said with a jolt of recognition.

"Don't remind me about that sabotage!!" Sirius whined. "It was so humiliating!!"

"Shall we move to the next day so we can have a special preview on recollection of Marauders' Feminine Side??" Lily suggested.

"No!!" The three guys said at the same time.

"That's why I only take you all here to have a little preview of your prank." Remus told the girls. "I won't take you all to the part that humiliate me."

"But you took them to the part to humiliate me!!" Sirius gave Remus a brotherly punch on his arm.

"I can choose where I want to go, but you can't." Remus gave Sirius the silly grin. "Alright, let's move on." Once again, hands held and eyes closed, they spun to the next time frame. They were in the Great Hall again, except that it was brighter this time round.

"Those are -" Lily pointed at the little figures moving and flying around the Great Hall.

"Us. Remember we shrunk everyone??" James reminded her.

"Oh ya." Lily grinned. "We're the one flying in our teeny weenie broomsticks."

"That's right. We look huge in this place."

"Besides the teachers, of course."

"Let's head back after this??" Remus suggested. "It had been a tiring day."

"It must be really hard on you." Stefanie gave Remus a peck on his cheek. "At least we all had a great and nostalgic New Year Day."

"You must be exhausted." Lily said. "I can help you if you need."

"Nah, I'm fine. I've enough practice back then. Thanks for the offer."

"Anytime."

"James will probably strangle me if I need your help."

"No, he won't." Lily smiled at James.

"Of course I won't." James said.

"Lily, he only says that because you're here. Trust me, I know him well enough." Sirius added.

"Haha, okay. Then I'll do it secretly."

"Don't you dare!!" James said in a threatening way jokingly.

"Who says I don't dare." Lily defied.

"You.."

"Me what??"  
  


"Cut that off, you two." Stefanie interrupted. "James, Lily can be quite stubborn in case you don't know."

"Of course I know that." James grinned cheekily. "I know her more than she thinks."

"Oh yeah??" Lily asked skeptically in pretended surprise.

"So I take it as you guys are ready to go back??" Remus intervened the bickering duo. "Okay, let's go." They formed their little circle and all prepared to be transported back to their dimension.

"Great!! We're back!!" Sirius jumped onto his bed. They had departed in the early afternoon and now it was already nightfall.

"I'm exhausted." Remus said and bounced onto his bed.

"I'll go and fetch some dinner for us." Lily suggested.

"I go with you." James offered.

"Can I say something??" Sirius told the two of them before they left.

"What??" Lily asked.

"Don't stray off to hanky panky and forget all about us." Sirius told them. "I do need some food rather urgently."

"You can do it after you two deliver the food to us." Remus added.

"Okay, we'll be back in a jiffy." James gave a small laughed before the two departed from the boys' dormitory. "Let's go." He turned over to Lily and said in a softer tone.

"Oooh!!" Funny sound was coming out from Sirius' bed. "Ooooohhh!!"

"Cut that off, Padfoot." James said in a slightly annoyed tone.  
  


"He's just jealous." Lily laughed. "Let's go." She grabbed James' hand and left the room. "Thinking about hungry, I kinda feel like eating sandwiches. What about you??"

"I don't know yet." James held onto Lily's left hand as they walked along the corridors. "Maybe I eat sandwiches too."

"I'm sure you don't want to eat sandwiches. How about some pizza for you?? Or fried finger food??" Lily suggested, looking at him in an adoring manner.

"Why are you looking at me like that??" James raised his brows and asked her teasingly.

"Just felt that you look unusually cute today." Lily said as a matter-of-fact.

"I'm cute everyday, not just today." That was the typical statement made by an egomaniac like James.

"Sounds so egoistic like that." Lily laughed a little.

"Being egoistic boost my hunger."

"Very funny." Lily shook her head a little. "Let's move faster."

"Let's race to the kitchens!!" James suggested. "You go first."

"Not fair, you'll definitely win." Lily argued. "You're like so much taller and with better stamina."

"Why don't you save the energy to argue and use them to run instead??" James started jogging forward very slowly.

"Okay, wait for me." Lily sprinted trying to outrun James.

33333333333333333333

"They're running to the kitchens??" Sirius said to no one in particular. He was looking at James and Lily from their map to make sure they did not stray off but went directly to the kitchens.

"Just let them be." Stefanie told him. "You don't want us to be following your every move if it was you, right??"

"I'm trying to, well, discipline them."

"Padfoot!!" Remus said in an exasperated tone. "Stef, ignore him, let's rest." He wrapped his hands around Stefanie's waist and both of them rest comfortably in Remus' bed. Sirius ignored the lovey-dovey couple and continued keeping track on Lily and James since he had nothing better to do.

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"So please co-operate with me for awhile more before this class ends for the day." Professor Flitwick told the half-sleeping students. "Ok, so let me conclude on the usage of this Motion Charm."

"I really can't take it." Lily sat a little closer to Stefanie. "My eyelids are falling." She gave a silent yawn.

"I know what you mean." Stefanie whispered back. "I'm not much better off than you." She supported her head with her hands.

"The time is passing extremely slow today." Lily gave another yawn.

"The next fifteen minutes is going to be a torturing time." Stefanie told her, both girls were too sleepy to be copying down the notes. In fact the entire class were in a dazed mode. It was in the mid-week of the first week of lessons after the break. The Gryffindors had spent most of the night before discussing about the upcoming tryout and hence, the lack of sleep.

"Just hang on." Lily tried scribbling some notes onto her parchment to keep herself from dozing off.

SsnnnooorRrreee!!

"Mr. Black and Mr. Potter, I would appreciate very much if you don't snore in my class." Professor Flitwick said in a slightly annoyed tone while he shot a charm to wake James and Sirius by sending them upright immediately.

"Motion Charm is commonly used in-" Sirius started blabbering.

"I wasn't asking a question." Professor Flitwick said simply. The whole class burst into laughter at Sirius' usual embarrassment.

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"So you guys ready for our second trial??" James asked everyone again. They had their event meeting last Friday and after another week of preparations, they were ready to head off for their second tryout.

"Yeah!!"

"Let's hit the skies!!"

"Simply can't wait."

"Okay, I shall cast the Motion Fidelius Charm and then we set off." Lily announced. "So our secret keeper will be James, alright??" She muttered a difficult sounding charm and a white mist emitted from her wand and engulfed everyone within the classroom. "Okay, let's go." The group of prefects, along with the seventh-year Gryffindors mounted their broomsticks and flew out into the dark skies above Hogwarts.


	107. Gloom and Gloomier

**Chapter 106: Gloom and Gloomier**

"Aaaah." Lily scooped a spoonful of chocolate chip ice cream and fed it into James' mouth.

"Yum!! Yum!!" James grinned. "Nice."

"The ice cream is nice or the way I feed you is nice??" Lily asked cheekily. Both of them were sitting in an ice cream parlor on a cool Hogsmeade weekend.

"Both." James said as a matter-of-fact. "Not to mention that I've got such a pretty girlfriend by my side."

"Yeah, and I've a hunky guy sitting in front of me." Lily was jokingly sarcastic but it gave James the more egoistic meaning.

"Well, obviously. I'm good-looking, smart, attractive, charismatic-" James was pointing out his good points.

"I know, don't worry, I know." Lily chucked another spoon of ice cream into his mouth. "So after this where shall we head towards??"

"Where do you want to go??" James asked.

"Hmm.. I don't mind shopping for clothes and stuffs-" Lily thought as she spoke.

"You can go shopping with the girls. Why don't we go somewhere else, like Zonkos??"

"Since you already have in mind where to go, why are you asking me??"

"Let you say something first but I don't necessary has to follow it." James grinned.

"You know that comment sounds so MCP." Lily shook her head. She was pretty much getting used to this side of James.

"MCP??"

"Male Chauvinist Pig, get the idea??" Lily helped herself with the ice cream.

"Feed me." James opened his mouth.

"Why should I??"

"Because you're my girlfriend, so you should feed me."

"Another MCP statement." Lily laughed again and chucked another spoonful into his opened mouth.

"You love it, don't you??" James said in the midst of a mouthful of ice cream.

"Looking so lovey-dovey huh??" Remus commented cheekily as both he and Stefanie came over to join the couple.

"Hey, what a coincidence." James raised his brows in surprised.

"Seriously you think Hogsmeade is that big that we can't meet one another??" Stefanie grinned. "Shall we get some ice cream too??"

"Fine with me. Choose whatever flavor you want." Remus said as Stefanie got up from her seat.

"You want me to accompany you??" Lily offered.

"Sure." Stefanie smiled and both girls linked their hands and left the two guys sitting by the table.

"What brought you two here??" James asked casually.

"Sounds like you don't want me to be here." Remus raised his brows as he questioned James.

"You know that's not true. I thought you told us that you two were planning to have some private moments together at the shack??"

"We did." Remus said. "So now we're out for an ice cream break before heading back again."

"You aren't serious, are you??"  
  


"Of course-" Remus laughed heartily. "Not." He shook his head while laughing at his friend. "Stef wanted to do some shopping, so I just keep her company."

"Since when do you do such girlie stuffs??"

"I don't mind as long as it's not so frequent. As long as Stef is happy, I'll gladly do it for her."

"Just don't let Lily hear about this. Otherwise she's gonna complain why I can't give her the same treatment."

"Seriously, how bad can an innocent shopping trip be??"

"It's simply boring and a total waste of time looking at stuffs you've no intention of buying."

"I thought I heard the word _shopping_." Lily said as she walked over from the back of James to her seat.

"You must be hearing things." James told her mischievously.

"I heard it too." Stefanie said. "How do you explain that??"  
  


"No one said anything about that." James scooped a small spoonful of ice cream and fed into Lily's mouth. All of them started laughing and continued chatting light-heartedly, totally free homework and Voldemort, at least for that moment.

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"This is not looking good." Remus frowned as he handed the Daily Prophet over to let the three other guys a look at the article.

"The dark lord will strike again, soon." Sirius read out so that the girls could hear him.

"Oh my gosh!!"  
  


"Oh no!!"

"Continue." James looked up from his breakfast, frowning slightly.

"There had been rumored that You-know-who would be having another attack somewhere within this two weeks. It had been about two month since the last Deatheaters' attack at Northern Scotland. Forecasters and some professionals had predicted that this unfortunate event might take place again and warned the public to take extra precautions." The whole group was silence, listening intensely to Sirius' reading. He looked up from the article before continuing again. "There had been sources that leaked news about the Deatheaters' plans to attack some of the magical communities in the near future. Aurors had increased their regular patrolling in the various magical communities such as Hogsmeade Village and Horizon Alley."

"Hogsmeade." Lily gasped. They were in a morning state of shock knowing Voldemort had been launching more and more attacks in a closer proximity to them.

"At least we can be sure he will never come into Hogwarts. Dumbledore is the only person Voldemort ever feared." James said in an unconvinced manner. "But this prediction is going to cause quite an impact on our event."

"If it gets really bad, we might need to postpone it."

"Just hope that it won't be cancelled. That's going to be a major disappointment to all of us." The group of seventh-year Gryffindors dropped into a dead silence for the remaining fifteen minutes of breakfast before their first lesson of the day.

33333333333333333333

"There's another half year more to go before all of you are going to graduate from Hogwarts." Dumbledore told the six of them who were gathered in his office for a highly confidential meeting. "I believe by now your powers had already been trained and developed. Strong enough to fight Voldemort." The six of them could only nod as Dumbledore continued his speech. "We had waited for so many years, but the seventh person had still yet to appear, much to all our disappointment. I'm afraid when the time comes, we can only depend on just the six of you."

"Professor." James spoke out. "We're fully aware of the dangers lurking outside. I know this is probably the most inappropriate time to pop the question, but we all would like to know if our school event could still be carried out."

"Why not??" Dumbledore spoke in a lighter tone. "I would be there personally to ensure the maximum safety to all my students. It's time that we need some fun in this midst of darkness and gloominess."

"Thank you." The six teens thanked their Headmaster in a much-relieved tone.

"I would want all of you to be prepared to fight Voldemort any moment. You never know what might happen." The six of them nodded solemnly. "I'm sure he knows of your identity as well."

33333333333333333333

_"It's about time for me to lay my hands on the six of you." The low raspy voice said in an arrogant tone._

_"No you won't." James said defiantly to the voice._

33333333333333333333

_  
"If you think Dumbledore is going to protect you kids all your life, you're very wrong." The evil voice said haughtily._

_"The good will triumph." Lily mustered her courage to speak._

33333333333333333333

_"All of you shall die in my hands." A horrible sounding evil laughter echoed._

_"We won't." Sirius told the evil voice. "You will be defeated. By us."_

33333333333333333333

_"If you think I've problem killing a bunch of kids, you've yet to experience my great powers."_

_"We will not die in your hands." Stefanie shouted at the echoing voice that surrounded her in darkness._

33333333333333333333

_"You kids are no match for me. Your destiny is in my hands." The evil voice laughed even harder. "It's a matter of time."_

_"It's your destiny that are controlled by us, not ours in yours." Remus shouted in the enveloping darkness._

33333333333333333333

"You look tired." Stefanie told Lily as both girls brushed their teeth at the sink. Samantha and Joey had already left the dormitory earlier for breakfast.

"I guess I didn't sleep well." Lily rinsed her mouth and spoke.

"You better be more awake later at Potions." Stefanie changed into her uniform.

"I'll try my best." Lily's eyes were only half opened. "You're having eye bags too."

"Must have been all the stress and sorts." Stefanie shook her head. "Let's hurry, only fifteen minutes left." She was all ready to leave, keeping the door opened as she waited for her friend.

"Coming." Lily quickly grabbed her bag, put on her shoes and dashed to the door.

"Today is going to be such a drag." Stefanie commented. "Potions, Divination, Herbology, what can be worst??"

"Yeah, Thursday blues." Both girls walked briskly as they left the Gryffindor tower.

"Hey!!"

"Woah, you guys must have been _marauding_ around last night." Stefanie grinned cheekily.

"Look at those eye bags and tired faces." Lily laughed slightly.

"We were sleeping the whole night away." Remus said honestly.

"Then what makes you guys looking like that??" Lily raised her brows.

"Haunted by dreams." James said as a matter-of-fact. The other four suddenly stopped in their tracks.

"The low raspy voice??" Lily whispered.

"The engulfing darkness??" Stefanie looked at Lily, wide-eyed.

"The threatening statements??" Remus added.

"The haunting feeling??" Sirius apparently had yet to recover from the night.

"Voldemort." James said in a low whispering voice. The five of them shuddered at the thought. "I think we should go to Dumbledore." They changed their direction and walked rapidly in silence towards their Headmaster's office.

33333333333333333333

"Judging from the current situation, we would want a vote to decide whether we should continue our event." James announced during the prefect meeting. Voldemort had attacked again a week ago, many muggleborns and half-bloods families had been affected.

"For those who want it to continue, please raise your hands." Most of the prefects' hands were raised, in fact, all of them besides the Slytherins of course. "Looks like everyone is in for this. Anyone have any comments or suggestions??" A fifth year raised his hand. "Yes??"

"With all these you-know-who happenings, how can we ensure our safety??" The fifth-year Ravenclaw prefect asked.

"Good question." James nodded. "We're going to cast the Fidelious Charm on ourselves. That was our original suggestion. Perhaps we might add the Disillusioned Charm too. For this event, we'll have Professor Dumbledore, McGonagall and Plains with us. The safety of the students is our main priority. Our Headmaster would not have agreed to continue if he couldn't guarantee the safety. Any other issues??" No one seemed to have any other comment. "In that case, let's have an early night. I would inform you all about the actual date soon." The prefects scattered and left the classroom.

"You ready to go??" Lily asked James as she packed her parchments into the file.

"Let's wait for awhile more." James placed his hand around Lily's waist.

"Hey, what are you trying to do??" Lily asked him, narrowing her eyes.

"What do you think??" James said cheekily, wrapping his arms around her waist.

"I don't know." Lily smiled. "Let's pack up and go back for 'an early night'."

"I thought you always say the night is still young??"

"I was quoting from your words earlier."

"Don't you want to hanky-panky for awhile here??" James whined and asked like a little kid.

"Yeah, in the classroom where you're going to have lessons??"

"Isn't it exciting??"

"For you perhaps." Lily poked his forehead. "I don't want to be blacklisted, yet."

"So someday you wanna hanky-panky here??"

"Perhaps." Lily grinned. "But I didn't say when exactly."

"Awww, what a disappointment." James sat down on the chair, looking down.

"Oh, c'mon. Let's return to the tower now." Lily grabbed all her prefectorial stuffs and pulled James out from his seat.

"So you wanna hanky-panky in the dorm, huh??" James' eyes brightened.

"Is that all you ever think of??"

"You are all I ever think of." James said honestly.

"That's so sweet." Lily gave James a quick peck on his cheek before continuing their stroll up to the Gryffindor tower, hand-in-hand.

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"Not again." Sirius commented loudly. The group of them had been keeping themselves updated with the news of Voldemort and his killings ever since the beginning of the year.

"Go on." Stefanie told Sirius. They slowed their eating pace as they listened to Sirius reading the article.

"We're here to do something about this. But what can we do??" Lily could not help but asked the question once again.

"Let's think of something that we can do about." James tried to change the conversation. "Like the event that we all had been looking forward to."

"Yeah, at least that's something we can control." Remus added. The mornings in the Great Hall had gotten gloomier lately due to Voldemort's attacks. Most of the muggleborns and half bloods had lost part of their families at some point of time, while the rest feared when would be their turn.

"Let's just get on with it before Voldemort can do any more damages." Sirius spoke up suddenly.

"Alright, I shall pronounce Hogwarts First and Only Night Flying event to be set in March." James said it in such a jovial tone that made the group laughed.


	108. Light Humor

**Chapter 107: Light Humor**

"Hey Sam, what did you get for Yann??" Lily asked Samantha. Yann was Samantha's boyfriend, Ravenclaw Quidditch Captain and one of the top students academically.

"Got him a pack of boxers from Hogsmeade." Samantha answered without hesitation.

"Ooooh!!" The three girls giggled and burst into laughter.

"That's really-" Stefanie was trying to stop laughing, "well, personal."

"And really, really close to you know." Lily added and the three girls laugh even harder.

"Then what about you two??" Samantha stood upright and crossed her arms, determined not to join in their laughter.

"I supposed I'm trying to prepare some food for him." Stefanie said thoughtfully. "Was thinking about baking and stuffs or something like that??"

"Going to ask the house elves to be your teacher??" Lily asked.

"I think so." Stefanie stopped packing her wardrobe suddenly. "I better make a trip to the kitchens."

"What about you, Lils??" Joey, who had remained silent most of the time due to the fact she had yet to have a boyfriend, spoke up.

"I was thinking getting him a white muggle tee shirt or something." Lily commented. "He seems to have a fetish for white tee. And besides what can I buy for a guy who have enough money to buy anything he wants??"

"I think the baking idea is pretty good." Samantha remarked.

"Sounds great to me." Lily agreed. "Let's all go baking together."

"Any homework due tomorrow??" Stefanie asked as they quickly finished whatever they were doing before their discussion.

"Not that I remember of." Lily looked through the parchment pinned on the wall showing their timetable.

"No work due tomorrow." Samantha confirmed, she was always the most attentive during lessons. "So girls, let's go now!!" The four girls talked excitedly as they left their dormitory and headed down to the kitchens.

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"Not too bad for a first V-day together." Lily commented as the couple walked along Hogsmeade Village hand-in-hand. James had insisted on holding Lily's hand giving the reason that she might get lost or wondered off.

"What important most is that you're enjoying yourself." James said truthfully. He was holding a few paper bags of clothes and other stuffs that Lily fancied along the way.

"Seriously you don't have to get everything which I lay my eyes on." Lily admitted but was smiling happily nevertheless.

"That's because I don't have any idea what to get for you."

"I love the bouquet of lilies you got for me." James had given Lily a large bouquet of lilies in the Great Hall for breakfast that morning. He was just one of the many other guys who gave flowers to the girlfriends.

"Well, nothing beats a rendezvous here on a school day afternoon."

"Yeah, while the rest of the school spend their V-day in Hogwarts compound." Lily joked. "That's just so _romantic_."

"Well, you gotta thank me for discovering the tunnel, you know??"

"I was there when this tunnel was discovered, in case you've forgotten."

"Yeah, how could I forget??"

"Precisely." Both of them were laughing at the memory of them discovering the hidden tunnel years ago when they were still kids. "Thankfully Honeydukes extend opening hours and decide to close at nine tonight."

"But that doesn't mean we're going to stay here till eight-fifty-nine p.m. alright??"

"I think we can leave after dinner at about eight."

"Sounds good. It isn't going to be easy explaining for our missing in action."

"Since when did James ever bother about this matter??"

"I don't mind detention and stuffs with the guys, but not with you. I don't like you getting detentions, afterall you're the Head Girl."

"Excuse me?? But what's with the sexist segregation??" Lily looked straight at James, stopping in her tracks.

"I just don't want you to suffer in detentions, and your Head Girl reputation."

"Then why can you break rules, go for hundreds of detentions, and still maintaining the Head Boy reputation??"

"That's because I've been doing it all the while, whether I'm the Head Boy or not. That's the reputation of James Potter."

"I can get that sort of reputation too, if I want."

"Do you want??"

"I don't mind. It sounds rather fun." James shot her the 'killer' look and Lily started laughing. "Do you know that look of yours is really funny??" Even he could not help but smile at Lily whose eyes lit up at his joke.

"That's something to add on to my attributes." James, can be quite narcissistic sometimes, commented. "Funny, humorous, laughable, witty, entertaining-"

"Don't they all mean the same??" Lily teased.

"Oh, and I nearly forgot that I'm eloquent and-" James grinned as he tried to annoy Lily. _She looks cute with that annoyed look._

"Okay, okay. Don't continue." Lily put up her hands in a surrendering manner. "I know, trust me."

"Sure." James laughed. "Shall we go to that restaurant for dinner??" He pointed at the expensive looking restaurant ahead of them.

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"Oh my gosh!! You two were-" Stefanie exclaimed. "_Picnicking_ in his dorm for the whole evening." The four girls were talking about their date the day before.

"Well, it's pretty romantic. No one was around. Total privacy." Lily said thoughtfully. "Not forgetting the soft beds, covered curtains, dim candlelight, seductive sandwiches, ouch!!" Samantha threw a cushion over at her.

"It's something normal and you all are making it sound like it was a joke or something." Samantha, who was being teased, was laughing along with them. "And what on earth is seductive sandwiches??"

"You all are so fortunate to have boyfriend to spend V-day with." Joey said with a tinge of sadness.

"Don't think so much about it." Stefanie said optimistically. "I'm sure your knight will come by soon enough."

"No guy wants me." Joey looked away as she spoke. "But it's okay."

"Well, I want you." Lily walked over and gave a friend a squeeze on her shoulders. "We all want you."

"Lils, that sounds so so so _lesbiany_!!" Samantha said, winking at Lily in a joking manner.

"I caught that." Lily laughed and winked back. Even Joey could not help but laughed at the two girls who were displaying a mild expression of lesbian mannerisms. "You know, sometimes I just can't help but thinking about the future after we graduate from Hogwarts. This kind of feelings with such wonderful roommates will be nothing but pure memory."

"We can always meet up for gatherings and sorts. And don't ever forget to invite us for your wedding." Stefanie told Samantha and Joey.

"I don't even have a boyfriend, where got wedding??"

"Oh, c'mon. For all you know, you're going to be the first to get hitched." Lily told her. "It's not how long you two are together, it's how well you two are meant for each other."

"That's very true. Time is not the best measurement in this case."

"Look, it's nearly six. Let's go for dinner." Lily checked her watch and stood up.

"No wonder my stomach is growling." They waited for one another to finish their last bit of stuffs before heading down to the Great Hall together.

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"Can anyone remember when was the last time we did something, I mean anything, to Slytherin??" Sirius asked the three Marauders. The guys were hanging out in their dormitory after dinner, supposedly to be catching up with homework and assignments.

"We walked past Malfoy today and nearly started hexing one another??" Peter said thoughtfully.

"This mini prank on oiling the Slytherin common room somewhere in January." Sirius tried to remember. The Marauders were just having a small chitchat when someone mentioned oil and grease at some point of time that led to a mild brainstorming session for pranking the Slytherins.

"That wasn't even anything big." James said. "Anyway they thought that the house elves polished their common room so brilliantly that they lived on with the grease till this day."

"Yeah, the statistics shown that on the average, seven Slytherins slip in their common room daily." Remus commented. The day after they oiled their common room, seven Slytherins had limped to the hospital wing due to sprain ankles. And it was the same number the day after. Remus had been resting in the Hospital Wing during those two days due to his transformation in the night.

"Pity I'm not in the pranking mood lately. Otherwise they definitely suffer more than just that." James said, flipping through some Potion textbook and starting on his essay.

"That's because Lily is all you ever think of lately." Sirius teased and over dramatized James. "Lily dear, have you eaten your lunch?? Oh Lily honey, what are you doing?

"Very funny. Haha." James replied sarcastically, deliberately ignoring Sirius who was in a laughing frenzy.

"The whole Hogwarts witnessed the Head Boy giving a large bouquet of lilies to the Head Girl." Peter contributed his two cents worth comment.

"It isn't like I was the only one or what. Our dear old Moony gave an equally large bouquet of tulips to Stef as well." James defended.

"That's not the point." Remus grinned. "Your impact is greater, you see."

"Flowers, flowers, flowers." Sirius was suggesting something.

"A prank on Slytherins involving flowers??" Remus questioned.

"Gotcha." Sirius jumped in joy. "They can wear flowers on their hair or something."

"How about those bright red hibiscus??" James suggested. "They would stand out."

"What are you guys waiting for??" Sirius asked in disbelief. "Let's transfigure some hibiscuses."

"And then??" Remus asked again.

"And then-" Sirius thought for a moment. "We use charm to make it stick on their hair above their right ears."

"And what is the charm is going to be??" James grinned and gave Remus a high-five.

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Lucius, Severus and some other Slytherins sauntered into the Great Hall for breakfast on a lethargic Friday morning. They were talking among themselves, barely noticing the other students throwing them strange looks.

"Let me make a guess." Lily closed her eyes and pretended to be concentrating hard. "What's happening to the Slytherins this morning must be the doing of the Marauders."

"So clever." James patted Lily's head adoringly.

"Who else would have the idea of planting hibiscuses on the Slytherins' ears??" Stefanie laughed.

"It seems quite weird to have a blooming hibiscus on top of each ear." Lily nodded thoughtfully.

"Prongs suggested planting the hibiscuses." Sirius pointed at James defensively.

"Not as bad as Padfoot's suggestion of planting on _both_ ears." James said nonchalantly. The Slytherin jokes were common in Hogwarts in the last seven years. However, the younger students remained fascinated by the Marauders' doing.

"James!! That was brilliant!!" Kate Potter and Andromeda Black walked over to join the seventh-year Gryffindors.

"Well, the Marauders are brilliant, that's why." James said modestly.

"I didn't know you knew how to be humble??" Lily was astounded.

"There are much more you don't know about me." James said with a cheeky expression.

"I don't think I wanna know." Lily mumbled inaudibly before regaining her composure. "Anyway where are the guys??"

"I supposed they're up to something again." Andromeda said. "We haven't seen them all morning."

"And they aren't the type who would miss breakfast for a million galleons."

"Sounds just like our _descendents_." Sirius said proudly.

"Are you sure you've got the word right??" Remus said teasingly.

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"Look, I'm really busy. It's not that I don't want to accompany you or something. I'm just tired." James told Lily. She came over to the boys' dormitory to ask James if he wanted to make a trip to the kitchens with her.

"Alright then. Sorry to disturb you. Good night guys." Lily tried to hide her disappointment and left the boys' dormitory.

"Is that how you treat a girl??" Remus asked after Lily closed the door behind her.

"Your girlfriend to be precise." Sirius emphasized.

"There's nothing wrong. I'm tired and really don't feel like going anywhere." James was about to fall asleep as he talked.

"Our dear old Prongs might be a great friend, but he's pretty much a failure as a boyfriend." Remus told the other two Marauders.

"I heard that." James mumbled from his bed.

"Then get your arse up and go to the kitchens with Lily." Peter scolded him in a friendly manner.

"I'm too tired. She's an independent girl." James yawned and turned around to face the other side.

"All girls want their boyfriend's attention. That's a fact." Remus was trying to tell James but the only replies were his snores. "Looks like he's asleep."

"Forget about that sleepyhead. Lend me your Herbology homework." Sirius was looking over the parchments that Remus had left to dry on his desk.

"Do it yourself." Remus said although he was sure Sirius would help himself with the scattered parchments.

"Wormtail??"

"Do it yourself." Peter replied the same thing.

"Fine." Sirius sat on his desk and started concentrating on an open textbook and empty parchment. "I give up. Lend me yours." He stood up and went to search for Remus' essay.

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"Next Friday!!" Lily gushed. "Just one more week. Aren't you excited??" It was Friday, a week before their date of Night Flying event. They were hiding at the Room of Requirement, spending some quality time together, away from the rest of the student body.

"I'm excited for sure." James tried to sound more enthusiastic.

"Don't sound a wee bit of excitement." Lily turned to face him. "Are you sure you're alright??"

"Don't worry." James reassured Lily. "I'm fine. Better than you in fact." He planted a quick peck on Lily's nose.

"Alright. Head Boy, Quidditch Captain, Homework, I'm sure you are totally exhausted." Lily forced James' head to lie on her lap.

"Hmm, I've got a good view from here." James looked up to face Lily.

"Good view of what??" Lily looked amused.

"Good view of this." James stared at Lily's protruding breasts.

"Disgusting!!" Lily covered James' eyes and leaned backwards.

"Well, you asked me to do it." James gave a cheeky look, shifting Lily's hands away.

"Then off you go." Lily pushed James' head away from her lap but he was too strong for her. "Hey!! Argh.."

"Now is my turn." James got up from his lying position swiftly and pinned Lily on the carpeted floor.

"Aaaahhh!!" Lily squirmed under the heavy body of James and struggled to release herself. "Eeekkkk."

She tried pushing James' shoulders upwards but he was too heavy.

"Try getting out under me." James said lazily, keeping his entire body weight on Lily's smaller frame.

"Help!! I'm crushed!!" Lily said a little breathlessly after the struggle. _Looks like I gotta give there a kick._ She tried bending her legs but James' legs had entwined hers, prevent her legs any form of movement. "Eeeeccckkk!!" She gave James' a hard pinch on his waist.

"Ouch!!" Instead of moving away, his weight seemed to have increased on top of her.

"Let me go!!" Lily struggled harder, pulling James' robes, hair, whatever she laid her hands on. Kicking wildly and wriggling her way out from her right side, she managed to get the upper half body away from James' body weight. "Now you shall see my power." She bent forward and placed her elbows on James' lower back.


	109. Fly in the Night

**Chapter 108: Fly in the Night**

It was the night of their Night Flying event finally and a large crowd of third- to seventh-years had gathered at the Entrance Hall with their broomsticks, waiting for the commencement of the trip. All the students present had been briefed on the safety precautions as well as basics of Night Flying. The necessary charms needed, such as the Disillusioned Charm, had already been cast.

"So everyone of you know your respective roles, right??" James asked the gathered group of prefects and the co-opted Gryffindors. "Don't forget, safety first." The group in front of James nodded in understanding. "You guys know what to do. So standby at your respective positions while I inform the Professors." The group returned to their noisy chattering as they dispersed themselves within the student population. The prefects were all wearing white robes so they would stand out from the rest of the students who were wearing the black Hogwarts robes.

"Wait a minute!!" Amos Diggory called out. "Let's have a group photo before we start." The prefects quickly gathered the students and arranged them in rows while Amos used a levitating charm to keep the camera in mid-air. "1, 2, 3." He called out and the camera took a snapshot of the group without anyone operating it.

"Professor, everyone is ready." James told Professor Dumbledore, McGonagall, and Plains. The three Professors would be following the group to ensure the safety of the students outside Hogwarts. The remaining Professors would have to ensure the safety of the students who remained in the castle that night.

"So what are we waiting for??" Professor Dumbledore, in his long white robes, announced. "Let's have our very own Head Boy to start off first." Everyone mounted onto his or her broomsticks excitedly while James and Sirius flew up to lead the way.

"Okay, follow behind." James turned back to the students. A group of Ravenclaw sixth-years, along with their prefects flew upwards behind James and Sirius. Slowly, all the students were hovering above the Hogwarts grounds, stabilizing themselves on their broomsticks. "Let's go!!"

A hundred broomsticks were now floating above the Forbidden Forest, with James and Sirius in the lead and Remus and Peter behind everyone else.

"Look at the forest." Someone commented.

"The canopy is too thick to see anything beneath."

"Cool huh, flying above the Forbidden Forest."

"Looks huge." The stretch of Forbidden Forest extended to some distance away, surrounding the entire Hogwarts castle.

"Look at that, isn't it our Gryffindor tower??" A fourth year pointed at a high turret with red and gold decorations through the windows.

"Definitely."

"That must be the Ravenclaw tower."

"Where's the Hufflepuff one??"

"Okay, so now we shall be heading towards Hogsmeade." James turned around to inform the students.

"Guys listen."A sixth year prefects passed the message to those who were not listening to James. "We're going over to Hogsmeade now."

"Wow!!" From high above, they could see the brightly lit village shining brightly in the night land.

"Hogsmeade never look cooler than this." A sixth-year exclaimed. Most of the students had never been to the village beyond evening time, not to mention flying above Hogmeade in the middle of the night.

"That's the Shrieking Shack over there." A student pointed at the dimly lit area of Hogsmeade, far from the village shop houses. Remus and Peter, who were flying behind and overheard the conversation looked at each other with a darkened look.

"So now we're proceeding out of Hogsmeade." James told the group behind him. "We'll be reaching our first rest point in about ten minutes time."

"Ten more minutes to our first rest point." The prefects got James' message and signal, passed on the message to those who were behind. The students continued to fly above the village in awed, commenting excitedly on how amazing the top view of Hogsmeade was.

"We're going to land down at the field in front." James pointed at the empty field some distance away from the village. "Reduce speed now." He slowed down the speed of his broom, along with Sirius next to him, lowered himself to near ground level before hopping off from his broom.

"Finally!!"

"Yeah!! Break time!!"

"Everyone listen up." James called out to gather the attention. "We shall have a fifteen minutes break here. If you need food or a drink, look for Lily over there. Do remember to keep yourself hydrated and not eat your fill." He pointed to his right, where Lily, along with Stefanie and a few other prefects, were standing next to a newly transfigured table with some disposable goblets and sandwiches. "Washroom is over the other end." A stretch of ten portable toilet cubicles sprang out of nowhere at the other end of the field. "So enjoy your break before we move on." The students dispersed themselves into their cliques, most heading towards the drinks counter.

"This is one of the coolest thing I ever done."

"I can't believe that we're actually flying in the night, through the night, to be precise."

"It's gonna be unforgettable."

"Get the next Head Boy and Girl to organize it once more next year."

"Pumpkin juice please." Stefanie handed the student with a goblet of pumpkin juice from one of the container.

"Water, thanks." Another prefect filled a goblet of water and handed to the student.

"Tuna sandwich." The house elves had spent the evening after dinner to prepare all the food and utensils for them to last through the whole night.

"Chicken Mayo please."

"We've five more minutes, so chop chop finish up whatever you need to do." Sirius called out to those who were still eating and queuing for the transfigured cubicles. "Don't forget to hydrate, hydrate, hydrate." Sirius went over to help himself with another serving of seafood mayo sandwich and some isotonic drink.

"You, queue up." Stefanie told him in a joking manner.

"Who?? Who??" Sirius pretended to look around and helped himself with another serving of chicken mayo.

"Yes, you." Lily laughed and helped herself with a slice of chicken mayo as well. "Taste pretty good actually." She fed Stefanie, as well as the other prefects whose hands were busy, with the sandwich.

"Yummy, yummy." The fifth year Ravenclaw munched happily.

"Deeelicious." Another prefect agreed, chewing away.

"Jeez, it's only a sandwich." The group of girls laughed among themselves as they continued eating and serving at the same time.

"Professors, are you ready to carry on??" Lily approached the three resting professors who transfigured themselves some decent benches and table.

"No problem." The professors nodded in agreement.

"Okay, folks. Let's get ready to carry on." James gathered the students who were all scattered around the one-acre sized field. The students, some re-energized, some de-energized, summoned their broomsticks and mounted them once again. "Up we go." Remus, with a group of five prefects, transfigured everything back to normal shrubs and bushes, clearing up the mess before following the trail of students.

"Where's our next stopping point??"

"You'll know soon enough." They flew over a large patch of darkness before reaching some lit area.

"Now this is muggle residential neighborhood." James steered his broom upwards. "Let's lower your volume and just make a quick pass." The noise level from the students drastically reduced. As they flew passed the muggle houses, those purebloods gave the electricity-controlled neighborhood strange looks.

"Sometimes I wonder how this electricity works."

"It's a necessity in their life. Like water."

"Muggle lifestyle seems quite amusing. They replace magic with all those don't know what stuffs."

"Ssshhhh.."

"Okay, we're nearing Diagon Alley." James announced in a relatively softer voice. "Just next to the muggle neighborhood." He pointed using his left hand at the street that appeared rather dark and foggy.

"Looks sorta gloomy."

"Hogsmeade looks better."

"We're going to fly pass a muggle industrial estate." James announced once they were some distance away from Diagon Alley. "After that we'll reach a high ground, overlooking some parts of Scotland."

"Did anyone else bring their camera??"

"Are you all referring to the high land over there??" Glideroy asked.

"That's right." At some distance away, a faint silhouette of a hill-like structure could be seen.

"It looks closer than you think."

"So it's pretty far, huh??"

"Approximately fifteen minutes of flying to reach the peak from here."

"You're kidding me. I've been there so many times-"

"I've gone through this route, have you??" The Ravenclaw prefect was a little irritated at the know-it-all attitude from the fifth-year Hufflepuff.

"Up!!" Sirius commanded. Not too far ahead were chimneys of some factories, obstructing their straight route ahead. "Go right!!" He steered his broom towards his right, the rest followed closely behind. "Might get foggy, don't panic."

  
James cast a clearing spell immediately after spotting some smoke ahead of them. "Speed up here!!" The two leading guys accelerated a little, the prefects passed the message down to the rest of the students. Some of the third- and fourth-years were a little fearful, prefects who were buddies with them had to slow down to make sure all of them make across safely.

"Help. I can't see anything."

"No worries." Remus quickly cast a clearing charm to ensure all the younger students were catching up with those ahead. "Just move a little faster. It's quite foggy at this area." The four juniors, along with two prefects, Remus and Peter, picked up the pace to catch up with those in front.

"Don't rush." Lily called out to the group of guys who went faster than the normal pace. "Five minutes and we'll reach." They slowed down slightly, realizing they were caught for speeding.

"Here we are!!" James stopped at the slightly inclined pastures. "We're going to spend about half an hour here. All of you can only rest within the boundaries of two acres. The usual drinks and snacks," James pointed to his right end of the limit, "and the washrooms, of course." He pointed to his left ends. "You can transfigure benches, tables, carpets, etcetera to rest here. So thirty minutes start from now." The students quickly dispersed and divided themselves to join their friends.

"Can you please help us to transfigure a carpet??" The prefects were going around, helping the younger students to transfigure items that they had yet to learn from their Transfiguration lessons.

"The stars looks so bright and beautiful from here." Lily commented to her food and beverage team of prefects.

"It would be a romantic night if there wasn't a hundred people over here." Samantha observed.

"Not forgetting we have our teachers, as well." Joey pointed out. The four girls were all in the food and beverage team along with four other helper prefects.

"But for a couple to travel all the way here from Hogwarts is a little too far."

"Considering we spent about three hours flying here."

"Was it really that long??"

"Half the night had passed."

"I supposed it's so enjoyable that I can hardly feel it."

"And tomorrow you're going to spend all day in bed."

"Imagine no one around for breakfast tomorrow."

"Except the first-and second-years."

"This is too much for them to handle."

"And they are too difficult for us to handle."

"Transfiguration has never been tougher than this." James and Sirius had walked over to join the group of girls at their food and beverage counter.

"Since when did you guys have a problem with transfiguration??" Lily teased.

"Since the third-years were so particular about the chairs and tables they want." Sirius groaned and helped himself with the food because no one bothered to serve him.

"What happened??" Stefanie asked in surprised.

"That group of Hufflepuffs want us to transfigure their common room couches for them." James said a slightly exhausted manner. "And they want the look and _texture_ to be the same." The girls burst out laughing upon hearing James' comical comment.

"That's not the worst." Sirius told the girls, rolling his eyes at the group of Ravenclaw fourth-years. "That group of girls over there absolutely wanted nothing lower grade than a Persian carpet."

"Sounds like a challenge for you guys." Lily shook her head and laughed at the guys' expression.

"Considering we never had the need to transfigure a Persian carpet in the last seven years other than during Transfig. Lessons."

"And we barely see the Hufflepuff couches, not to mention how soft and _squashy_ they're supposed to be."

"You guys are professionals at transfiguring anything but furniture??" A prefect asked.

"Not that of course. But they want quality. And after half a night of lead flying, we are not exactly in our peak." The girls laughed again at Sirius hilarious comments accompanied by his funny expression.

"Cool off, here's some energy drink for you two." Lily took two disposable goblets of isotonic drinks for the two guys.

"Energy boosters, indeed." Stefanie agreed heartily.

"Lucky you girls come up with this energy drink." James said gratefully. "Otherwise everyone will probably be knockout by now."

"Yeah, so you guys should appreciate the team who prepared the food and drink more than just a word of thanks." Lily joked.

"In what way do you want us to show our appreciation??" Sirius asked cheekily.

"An expression of thanks."

"There you go." James used his wand and wrote the fiery word 'thank you' in mid-air.

"Very well indeed."

"Maybe you guys wanna check out the toilet crew over there." Lily pointed across the field at Remus and Peter along with Amos and Severus for the toilet in-charge.

"They can manage without us." Sirius said. Across the field there was a group of guys congregated together in front of the toilet, apparently something was wrong.

"Padfoot, let's check it out." James dragged Sirius away from the group of girls to the other end of field.

"No worries, they're just dungbombs." Remus was trying to coax a frightened third-year about the mild explosion in the cubicle.

"What happened??" James asked the prefects in-charge.

"Someone planted re-bombable dungbombs in all the units." Peter told them. "It exploded when the girls were inside.

"Who did it??" James asked the group of students. "Who planted the dungbombs in the toilet??" Everyone just looked at one another, waiting for someone to own up. "Never mind. We do it when we're back in Hogwarts." He personally transfigured three new units for the three frightened third-years.

"I assure you this three units are fine. We're here to make sure it's ok." Sirius told the three girls and led them to the toilet. "Don't worry about it."

"Replace all ten units." Remus instructed. The dungbombed toilets disappeared and Remus re-transfigured seven new units out from the shrubs.

"No problems, right??" Sirius asked the three girls who just came out from the toilet.

"Thanks." They nodded and thanked them before returning to join the group of Ravenclaw friends.

"We've about ten more minutes here before we proceed." James announced. "Just finish up whatever you're doing. And don't forget to hydrate yourself!!"


	110. Post Night Flying Syndrome

**Chapter 109: Post-Night-Flying Syndrome**

"Look!! Hogwarts!!" A student in front shouted excitedly.

"Great!!"

"Finally!!" It was nearly dawn and the sun can be seen rising from afar.

"Give me five minutes to debrief at the Entrance Hall." James, though tired but managed to conceal it from the rest of the students, announced.

"Not at this time." Some students groaned.

"It'll be a quick one." Sirius said as the two guys landed in front of the entrance. The rest of the students jumped off their brooms and stood in front of James, anticipating the end of the debriefing session.

"Thank you everyone for making this event a success." James was saying, apparently most of the students were too exhausted to listen. "We've got to thank our Professor Dumbledore, Professor McGonagall and Professor Plains for giving up their bedtime to ensure our safety. Not forgetting the organizing committee." Sirius, Remus and Peter started waving to the rest of students and said 'thank you'. "And all the prefects as well. It had been hard work but it's worth it." James and Sirius started the applauding, and the rest just followed, not exactly bothered about what was going on. "Alright, I now pronounce that it's the end of the Hogwarts Night Flying Event." Everyone suddenly started to applaud loudly, perhaps because it meant that they could return to their respective dormitories after this. "Yes, you all may go now." The students quickly hopped onto their broomsticks again and flew up to their dormitory instead of walking.

"Let's go." Sirius said brightly.

"This is such an exciting night!!" Lily exclaimed happily.

"Tiring is a better word." James said monotonously.

"Let's fly back to the dorm. I'm too tired to walk." Stefanie suggested. The eight seventh-year Gryffindors mounted their brooms once again and flew up to their dormitory.

"Bye guys!!" The girls were about to enter their dormitory via the window.

"Have a good rest and thanks for your help!!" James told the girls.

"No problem."

"Bye."

"Good night!!" Lily called out. It was an irony because the sun had just risen and the first rays of sunlight had shone at them.

"Tiring!!" Samantha put down her stuffs and dashed into the bathroom immediately.

"HEY!!" Joey chased after her but the door slammed before she reached their shared bathroom. "I go next."

"Lils, you wanna go first??" Stefanie asked.

"Thanks, I'm okay being the last." Lily said wearily. "Wake me up when you're out of the bathroom." She slouched against the side of her chair on the floor and dozed off within seconds.

"That's our Lily, able to sleep in all conditions." Stefanie joked with Joey.

"I'm done!!" Samantha opened the door.

"Great. Accio." Joey summoned her towel and some clothes as she went into the bathroom.

"Lils is sleeping." Samantha said in slight surprise.

"That's her." Stefanie grinned. "And you're fast!!"

"Yeah, I'm drained." Samantha climbed onto her bed, preparing to sleep.

"You better get some sleep first."

"Alright, night Stef." Samantha's eyes were already closed and within a minute, she was snoring lightly sound sleep.

"Good night." Stefanie smiled.

"Stef, you're next." Joey was drying her hair with a wand.

"Thanks." Stefanie said appreciatively and grabbed her stuffs into the bathroom.

"No problem." Joey went to clear up the stuffs and hang up her clothes after laundering them with magic.

"Done!!" Stefanie came out of the bathroom within ten minutes.

"That's fast." Joey said. "I think it's time to wake her up." She pointed at the slouching figure at the center of their dormitory.

"Let's do it now." Stefanie and Joey started shaking Lily violently.

"Woah, cool down." Lily woke up in a state of shock. "I'm awake."

"You better go for your bath." Stefanie said.

"Don't stink our dorm." Joey teased.

"You girls are fast." Lily got up, shaking her head, muttering away.

"We're not fast, it's just you."

"If you want to sleep, you better hurry. We're not going to wait for you." Joey said before Lily closed the door.

"You two go ahead and get some rest. Don't wait for me." Lily called out from the bathroom.

"We've no intention of waiting for you." Joey joked and both girls laughed.

"You get some rest first." Stefanie told Joey. "You must be tired."

"It's okay, I can manage."

"Tada!! I'm done!!" Lily came out of the bathroom.

"You're fast!!" Joey commented.

"I miss my bed." Lily dried her hair with her wand. "Besides I only did a summarized bath."

"No conditioner and moisturizer." Stefanie grinned.

"You know me so well!!"

"Let's sleep now." Joey said and climbed up onto her bed.

"I thought you two said you're not going to wait for me." Lily asked.

"Good night!!" Stefanie said and both girls giggled a little before silence filled up their dormitory.

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"No!! Not again!!" James groaned as he climbed into his bed and drew the curtain of his poster bed. The Marauders burst into laughter once again.

"Prongs!! Just tell us the juicy details!!" Sirius said from outside of his bed. "We just want some details, right Moony??"

"That's right!!" Remus replied. "And we're all very curious how did you two managed to do it when you're _fully_ _dressed_!! Or was it just a '_full-dress'_ rehearsal??" They were talking about the day in which they caught James and Lily hanky-pankying in the Room of Requirement. Sirius was trying to find the three other Marauders when he stumbled across the dots labeled 'James Potter' and 'Lily Evans' was overlapping one another. Curiosity got him made a trip to check out what was happening. And obviously once the door opened, he found James lying on top of Lily, and well, caught in some act.

"Nothing to tell!!" James repeated. "That was ages ago anyway."

"We promise once we know the details we will stop bugging you about it. Right, Wormtail??" Sirius asked Peter.

"Definitely. Padfoot refused to tell us anything!!" Peter complained. "Even though he watched the whole show." Sirius attempted to draw the curtain manually and apparently James cast a charm to keep it tight.

"Shut up!!" James called out. 

"Let's not disturb him." Remus said good-naturedly. "Just spare him for the moment."

"You can't spare the rod and spoil the child!!" Sirius exclaimed.

"Padfoot, how about we get some food from the kitchens??" Remus winked at Sirius.

"Oh," Sirius caught the wink and thought for a while. "Let's go. Wormtail, you coming??"

"I think I just laze around." Peter yawned and lied supine on his bed.

"Any special orders??"

"Anything is fine. Thanks." Sirius and Remus exited their dormitory, leaving James and Peter in the silent room.

"I want some fries." James called out.

"They've already left." Peter told him.

"Idiots."

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"They're still reminding me of that stupid incident." James complained. Both of them were patrolling along the corridors one night.

"You mean the Room incident??" Lily raised her brows.

"Precisely. You know Sirius." James commented, making a face at the mention of Sirius' annoying nature.

"Of course, he's like that." Lily laughed. "At least he isn't bugging me for details."

"There weren't much details to start with."

"True." Lily nodded. "Maybe you should bring the Map with you next time."

"Good point." James laughed slightly.

"There's some movement over there." Lily pointed at the right corridor ahead of them. There were some noises of footsteps.

"Ok." James said in the lowered voice. Both of them literally tiptoed to the edge of the wall and took a peep.

"I shall report to Dumbledore."

"You wouldn't dare."

"You try me."

"You'll do better to join me."

"I know what's right."

"If you try anything, you know the consequences."

"You are daring me."

"What do you think you two are doing??" James came out from his hiding place with Lily following close behind.

"Ho, so it's Potty and his mudblood girlfriend." Lucius taunted. "Eavesdropping other people's conversation, how _honorable_."

"It is way passed bedtime and you've no reason to be out."

"Have you forgotten there's a prefect here??"

"But you're not a prefect." James glared at Lucius. "I can easily deduct your house points and send you for detention."

"Save the trouble. I'm on my way back now." Lucius said maliciously. "You better watch out." He turned to Severus before storming off.

"What happened??" Lily said in a more civil tone.

"That's none of your business." Severus said in a hostile manner and went off behind Lucius. James and Lily exchanged a look but did not say anything.

"What do you think they were discussing??" Lily could not hold back her curiosity and popped the question when both Severus and Lucius were out of earshot.

"It can't be anything good." James lowered his voice. "Walls have ear, talk when we're back." With that, they went the opposite direction of the Slytherins and continued their patrol for another hour before they were due to return to their dormitory.

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"That must be the reason!!" Sirius exclaimed. James and Lily had gathered Sirius, Remus and Stefanie to the Room of Requirement for an emergency meeting the moment they returned to the dormitory after the encounter with the two Slytherins. Thankfully Peter was sound asleep with James casting the Silent Charm at his bed.

"But we can't deduce that both of them are Deatheaters, or perhaps Malfoy is trying to convince him to be a Deatheater." Lily said reasonably. "Afterall, we never hear the exact word. It was barely audible from the distance."

"Perhaps we should alert Dumbledore regarding this." Remus said thoughtfully. "That's probably the best solution."

"I agree with Remus, it's not up to us to deal with this." Stefanie said in agreement. "It's like none of our business, in some sense."

"The only big problem is that, there are Deatheaters among us." James said in a sense of urgency. "Deatheaters among the students, not forgetting Porky could well be one of them."

"There is only so much we can do to protect the rest of the students. In any case Dumbledore is away or something, who knows what might happen." Lily said.

"I reckon we have some sleep here for the night and go straight to Dumbledore first thing in the morning." Remus, always being the sanest one around, suggested.

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"Nah, I give it a miss." Peter was grinning ear-to-ear. The Marauders were in their dormitory discussing about the upcoming pranks and some general discussion.

"You're hiding something from us." James analyzed from Peter's expression.

"Tell us." Sirius said. "Don't be another Prongs who is famous for hiding juicy details from his best friends." James rolled his eyes upon Sirius' comment. And apparently he had yet to give up his quest on bugging James for the 'full-dress' rehearsal, the way he put is so mildly.

"I've got a date with Gracie this Saturday." Peter confessed.

"Wow!!" Remus was genuinely happy for his friend.

"I was really surprised when she agreed to go to Hogsmeade with me this weekend." Peter admitted. "It's like she's so gorgeous, well, veela and everything, and she said yes when I asked her earlier."

"I'm so happy for you." James beamed at his friend. "Have a great weekend."

"Thanks. But of course if you guys still wanna pull some prank next week, do count me in."

"No problem." Sirius said. "We won't forget you for a million galleons."

"Thanks!!" Peter said gratefully. "If not for the event, I wouldn't have the opportunity to even talk to her." It was during the Night Flying event when he had gotten the chance to know Gracie Lockhart in a deeper level when he was supposed to be in charge of a group of Gryffindors.

"So let's get back to the important topic." Sirius said seriously. "The Big Prank."

"Ok, suggest something." James was still slightly annoyed over the fact that Sirius had been mentioning the hanky-panky incident at least three times a day.

"I don't mean any normal pranks, I was saying the finale." Sirius was telling them. "You know we're going to graduate soon. So we need to leave some traces, or some memento so the others can remember us years and years after we leave Hogwarts."

"Oh, I've nearly forgotten about that." James said thoughtfully. "I think we're sticking to the idea we came up with the last time." The four guys huddled together on James' bed and started their discussion.

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"Post-Night-Flying Syndrome." Samantha said. The four girls were catching up with their homework and assignments, and also preparing for the N.E.W.T.S. at the same time in their dormitory.

"Yeah, just felt like going out and fly around." Lily sounded a little spaced out. "All these Transfig. stuffs are driving me mad. What is the possibility of a person transfiguring a chair to a table anyway??"

"Well, no choice. We never know what they're going to give us for practical." Joey said, looking up from her Charms notes.

"Actually I think Lils isn't the only one suffering from PNFS." Stefanie joked. "I'm having it too."

"PNF – Oh, Post-Night Flying Syndrome." Samantha suddenly understood Stefanie's abbreviation.

"I think we should take a short break." Joey suggested. "I'm not absorbing anything either."

"Well, we can have a mini quidditch game if the pitch is available." Samantha closed her Herbology textbook and looked up.

"Sounds like a brilliant idea." Lily jumped off from her bed, leaving her quills and parchments scattered on her bed. "I'll check the field first." She grabbed her Thunderbolt broomstick, which was sitting, beside her bed.

"I go with you." Stefanie offered. "I need a break too."

"So if it's available, we fetch the quaffle."

"Great. See ya." Lily and Stefanie flew out from their window towards the quidditch pitch.

"Jeez, two months to exams." Stefanie commented. The two girls were flying passed the castle's various towers before catching sight of the empty field.

"Looks empty." Lily agreed as they flew nearer to take a closer look.

"Confirmed." Stefanie said as they hovered directly above the empty field. "I fly back and get the quidditch trunk."

"Okay, I hang around here first." Stefanie turned back to the Gryffindor tower while Lily flew downwards onto the sandpit of the quidditch field. "Hmm.. What a bright and windy day. Great for playing quidditch." She muttered to herself as she walked around, kicking the sand lightly and leaving a trail of footprints that disappeared quickly when the breeze came along.

"We're here!!" Joey called out as the three girls carried the quidditch trunk over.

"Let's get started." Samantha opened the box. It contained a quaffle, two bludgers that were chained up, and a little snitch in a casing on the lid.

"Just take the quaffle will do." Stefanie took the quaffle up and closed the vibrating trunk.

"Let's go!!" The four girls had been more interested with quidditch, or perhaps broom-flying after the Night-Flying event, which all of them had put much time and effort in organizing it.

"Here!!" Stefanie flew towards the hoops and Lily followed her closely to block Joey from passing the quaffle to her. Lily and Samantha versus Stefanie and Joey. Stefanie and Samantha had been playing quidditch since young while Lily and Stefanie were in the Gryffindor house team.

"Got it!!" Lily caught the quaffle intended for Stefanie from Joey and immediately threw it at the opposite direction where Samantha was ready to catch and score. They continued playing and passing the quaffle and scoring until they lost count, afterall, two versus two were not the best quidditch team number around.

"Hey!!" Someone called out from mid-air. "Can we join you girls in this game??"

"I'm okay, what about you guys??" Samantha agreed. The group of four seventh-year Ravenclaws flew over to the center of the pitch.

"Sure." The other three agreed and smiled.

"Thanks, we need a break from all those studying too." Pepper told them. "Glad that it's you girls and not some Slytherins or something."

"And besides we had gotten so interested in flying after the Night Flying event." Mabel joked.

"Sama here." Joey agreed. The girls were chatting a little in mid-air, catching up with one another since that night.

"So how are we going to split??" Joey asked.

"Gryffindor versus Ravenclaw??" Jun suggested. "If you all don't mind."

"I'm okay with that." Lily smiled agreeing.

"Sounds great." Eva commented. "So we just use the quaffle and one bludger??"

"Sam, you mind being the Keeper??" Stefanie asked.

"I'm fine with that."

"Jo, you wanna be the Beater?? Chasers will get beaten." Lily asked.

"Okay with that."

"So Jo is our Beater, Lily and Stefanie are Chasers, and I'm the Keeper." Samantha told the opposing Ravenclaws.

"For us, Eva is the Beater, Mabel and Jun are the Chasers and I'm the Keeper." Peppers looked at her teammates and they nodded in agreement.

"Alright. Let's get started." Mabel said enthusiastically. The eight girls flew up into the air simultaneously. Jun threw the quaffle up and the game was started.

Joey hit the bludger and sent it flying towards Mabel. Eva managed to block it from hitting Mabel and stroked towards Lily. Mabel was throwing the quaffle towards the hoops when Samantha caught it and threw it over to Stefanie who passed it to Lily who was in front. Jun flew over and caught it before Lily and passed it over to Mabel at the opposite end.

"First goal!!" Mabel shouted. She just threw the quaffle passed Samantha and straight into the left hoop. The Ravenclaws cheered and Samantha threw the quaffle over to Lily who passed it over to Stefanie and then she scored.

"Our first goal!!" Lily cheered. The girls were so energized by the game as they continued to score until they lost count.


	111. NEWTs Jitters

**Chapter 110: N.E.W.T.s Jitters**

"Professor, do you really trust Snape??" James asked in disbelief. Professor Dumbledore had sent for Lily and James to his office.

"Yes, I trust Mr. Snape." Professor Dumbledore said in a calm manner.

"Pardon my impudence, but he is a Slytherin and most of them are Deatheaters." Lily spoke her opinion.

"I had several talks with Severus and I believe he is on our side."

"But his parents are Deatheaters." James said bluntly. "And we heard his conversation with Malfoy. The Malfoys are Voldemorts' supporters."

"I understand you all have prejudice with some Slytherins, but Severus is on our side. And I can vouch for him." Dumbledore said calmly.

"But-" Lily was trying to prove her point but Professor Dumbledore continued.

"I've something more important to tell all of you." His voice was serious. "Voldemort is getting out of hand soon. I think you all are our only hope." James and Lily were speechless but nevertheless continued to listen. "All of you will be leaving Hogwarts in about three months time. Our magical community needs you, the six of you, to defeat him."

"Professor, we'll try do our best." James' comment somehow lacked conviction.

"I hope both of you will not make things difficult for Severus. You all will end up working closely together in the future."

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"Don't remind me." Lily groaned as she turned to lie supine on her bed, her Herbology textbook push up above her head.

"Exactly one more month to the first day of N.E.W.T.s." Joey repeated teasingly.

"Thank you very much." Lily said sarcastically. "I'm far from prepared."

"We're not ready as well." Stefanie said kindly. "I think I'm going mad with Divination."

"We should drink some tea and then analyze the tea leaves to see what grades we're going have to N.E.W.T.s." Samantha joked.

"I think it's more feasible to drink to tea and find out the questions we're going to have for the exams." Stefanie commented. Professor Trelawney had specifically told them that it was impossible for the students to find out any questions of the exams because these questions were blocked from the seers and Divination technology.

"Let's continue the mugging session." Lily turned around, with her stomach on the bed, and continued reading the cursive calligraphy of her Herbology textbook.

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"A miracle had happened." Sirius spoke suddenly and interrupted the peace in the boys' dormitory.

"What??" James turned around on his chair to face Sirius.

"There is actually peace for an hour is this room when all four of us are here." Sirius announced grandly. James shook his head at Sirius' idiotism and turned back to continue reading his Charms textbook. Apparently Remus and Peter were too engrossed in their reading to even notice Sirius' comment. Afterall it was three weeks to their very final and most important exam in their schooling life in Hogwarts.

"Why isn't anyone answering me??" Sirius looked at the backs of his three roommates. "Fine." He muttered to himself and switched his attention back to his books.

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"Two more weeks to go and we're done with exams!!" Lily exclaimed. They were doing their patrolling duties for an hour before heading back to the tower to do some night studying.

"Over with exams and next over with school." James reminded her the cruel fact.

"Yeah. That is like so fast." Lily gave a sad expression. "All but memories of Hogwarts life."

"To the real world outside."

"I supposed that's what life is all about." Lily looked ahead, not focusing on anything in particular. "James, don't leave me okay."

"I won't." James gave her hand a squeeze.

"Thanks." Lily said gratefully. "If one day you really left me for another girl, it's okay. At least now you said you won't."

"I say I won't means I won't." James insisted.

"Okay." Both of them walked in silence, hand-in-hand.

"So what do you want to do after we graduate??" James asked casually.

"I don't know. Never really thought much of it."

"I think I'm going to be an auror. Rid the world of evil." James said in such a pompous manner that made Lily laughed.

"Then I shall join you and be an auror too." Lily looked at James in admiration.

"You-" James pinched her nose lightly. "Too weak to be an auror. You need someone to protect you and not the other way."

"I can protect myself in case you haven't notice."

"Alright, not that I can't win you in this debate, I shall be a gentleman and let you win." James said airily.

"Whatever." Lily crossed her hands in front and continued walking.

"Give me your hand. You're going to crash onto something walking like this." James told her in a jokingly stern manner, but Lily refused to concede.

"I can protect myself." Lily turned to look at James, still continued walking. "Even if I'm walking – Ouch!!" She crashed straight into one of the statues ahead.

"Watch out!!" James called out, but it was too late. Lily had crashed straight into one of the statues and fell backwards. "See what I told you. You can't even walk without falling down." James pulled Lily back up onto her feet.

"Thanks." Lily dusted her robes as she stood up on her feet.

"See what I just told you." James said, smirking a little, trying very hard not to laugh out loud. "My prediction." Then he burst into laughter.

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"No!! No!! No!! You don't have to remind me." Lily raised her hands in surrendering manner. It was one week until the seventh-years final examinations, the N.E.W.T.s. Most of the students were feeling anxious and jittery, especially for those who did not excelled in Transfiguration, which had happened to be the first paper.

"It's like a piece of cake." James was easing the tension in his style. The Marauders had literally dragged Lily and Stefanie out of their dormitory to the Hall for dinner break. The girls had been taking packed meals into their dormitory so they could save time and distractions.

"Yeah, you guys excelled in every subject even without studying. Sometimes I wondered if you guys had gotten hold of the exam papers or something." Stefanie joked.

"You girls need a break." Sirius said with his mouth full of food. "Look at us. Play hard and became smart."

"Yeah, since when??" Lily laughed at Sirius' joke.

"I'm the ideal example." Sirius boasted.

"Jeez.. I'm going to doubt that then." Stefanie said. "Especially when you're the _ideal_ example." She shook her head. "Anyone with brains would know never ever follow Sirius' words of _idiotism_."

"I'm so hurt. My most beloved sister saying that to me." Sirius was being over dramatic by clutching his hands together close to his heart. Though the truth had been revealed that Sirius and Stefanie had been cousins instead of twin brother and sister, they still felt the brother-and-sister bond between them.

"I think you spent at least ten years of your life trying to banish me in a way or another." Stefanie told the rest.

"Luckily he didn't succeed." Remus added. "Otherwise I probably wouldn't even want to talk to him."

"Hey Moony, you knew me before you even liked Stef." Sirius reminded him. "That's because I always knew you had such a wonderful sister, it was a ploy, you see." The exam tension had been lifted that the group of sixth teens were talking as if N.E.W.T.s was a year away.

"I should have stole her letter so she'll never get to come here. Or I could have bribe Beaubaxton to take her in instead."

"Then I would have gone to Beaubaxton to meet her instead."

"Awww.. that's so sweet." Lily commented. "Sirius, if you dare to do anything to Stef, I won't let you off. Remember that." She told Sirius in a jokingly threatening manner.

"And if Lily is being Anti-Sirius, I will definitely join her." James joked.

"Wormtail, you're on my side, are you??" Sirius asked Peter.

"Definitely." Peter laughed.

"At least Wormtail is my true friend. Not like you two, abandon me for girls." Sirius reprimanded the two guys.

"But if Gracie is Anti-Sirius, the way James put it, I'll be on her side too."

"What has this world turn into??" Sirius raised his hands into the air and called out to no one in particular in a dramatic manner. Obviously that earned a few curious looks from those around him.

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"Well, today is the day." Samantha declared. It was the first day of the N.E.W.T.s for the Hogwarts seventh-years, the Transfiguration paper.

"We studied all seven years for seven papers within ten days." Stefanie commented.

"We've about two more hours to go before the paper." Joey added. The Nasty Exhausting Wizarding Tests were usually held approximately a month before the other types of exams. This gave the graduating batch of students at least a month free from schoolwork and examinations to enjoy their last few days in Hogwarts.

"And after that, holidays!!" Lily cheered optimistically.

"Lils!!" Joey groaned.

"But before that, the NEWTs!!" Stefanie reminded Lily.

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"Transfig. rules!!" Sirius shouted exaggeratedly. The boys were eating their breakfast in the Great Hall. It was about an hour to their first N.E.W.T.s paper and they were far from nervous.

"That's because you're good at this subject." Remus laughed good-naturedly as the four boys continued to feast greedily on the food.

"Nothing beats Transfig." James added. "We've more than enough practice and done more research than anyone else in Hogwarts."

"Our Transfig. knowledge is as good as Maggie's, or perhaps even better." Sirius boasted.

"Don't let her hear you calling out the pet name you chose." Remus reminded. Over the years, Sirius had earned extra detentions whenever Professor McGonagall heard Sirius using the word 'Maggie' whenever he referred to her. And most of the time she overheard him in the Great Hall. The Marauders usually made the loudest noise among the other groups, and had the most attention, especially from the girls.

"Oops!! I still wanna enjoy the holidays."

"The girls are here." Remus waved to catch the attention of the four Gryffindor seventh-years who just entered the Great Hall. It was nearly emptied because most of the students had went for their classes, those remained behind were having their free period.

"Hey guys." The girls greeted and joined the guys for breakfast.

"You guys are early." Lily commented.

"For our favorite subject, we need more energy." James told them.

"Five slices of toast for Transfig. is nothing." Sirius said casually.

"That's a lot, considering you still had eggs and bacon as well." Stefanie joked.

"Let me guess." Sirius put both his index fingers on his temples. "Animagus Transformation is definitely going to be a question."

"Everyone knows that." Samantha replied. "McGonagall had made is known that there will definitely be this question in the N.E.W.T.s. They set this question every single year in the last few centuries."

"That's a good prediction." Lily laughed. "Maybe you can try drinking tea instead."

"Tea?? Oh – Divination." Sirius took a moment to catch the joke.

"We've about fifteen more minutes to go." Remus reminded the group.

Once breakfast was over, the seventh-years milled around in the Entrance Hall. At nine-thirty, they were called forward class by class to re-enter the Great Hall, which had been rearranged into an exam hall. The four house tables had been removed and replaced instead with many tables for one, all facing the staff-table end of the Hall where Professor McGonagall stood facing them. All the seventh-years walked in silently and quickly to their seat in the exam hall.

"You may begin." Professor McGonagall said once they were all settled down and ready. She turned over an enormous hourglass on the desk beside her, on which there were also spare quills, inkbottles and rolls of parchment.

James turned over his paper, looking through the questions, smiling inwardly as he already knew nearly all the answer inside his mind. _This is simple. _He started writing down the answer on Animagus Transformation.

_Hmm.. What is the definition of Inanimatus Conjurus Spell?? _Lily wrote down as much as she could remember.

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"First paper down!!" Lily said optimistically. The group of six was all gathered ready for dinner after their Transfiguration practical exam in the afternoon.

"It was better than I thought." Peter commented.

"Of course!! We're all expert in this field." Sirius told him. "No more Maggie's lessons, I gonna miss that."

"I wonder if McGonagall is the only reason you ever love Transfig." Remus joked.

"I thought I had hidden my darkest most secret so well."

"Unfortunately the whole world knew about your obsession with Transfig. lessons." Stefanie joked. There was once when Professor McGonagall had been down with Chicken Pox, a muggle illness, which was highly infectious. Other lecturers took turn to conduct the lessons for her throughout her two-week long recuperation. Sirius had created a din because he refused to have another lecturer teaching Transfiguration besides Professor McGonagall herself, and of course he had skipped the lessons for two whole weeks even when Professor Dumbledore the one tutoring the class. Somehow he had managed to convince the other three Marauders to skip the lessons along with him. But to most people's surprise, when Professor McGonagall gave a test the week after she returned, the Marauders were the only ones who scored full marks.

"We studied with or without Maggie breathing down our necks." Sirius said. "We're Transfig. freaks if you want to put it in that manner."

"Yeah, that's because you all had covered nearly everything about Transfiguration, ranging from the most difficult models to the oldest theories." Lily said as a matter-of-fact.

"At least now one paper down. Six more to kill." Remus said.

"What a metaphor. Kill the papers." Stefanie laughed.

"Well, it would be an understatement if Padfoot is the one saying it." James pointed out. "Tomorrow is Herbology. Wormtail's best subject."

"This is probably the only night I can relax a little." Peter said humbly.

"Good for ya." Lily said encouragingly. "I still had to read up on a whole load of plants tonight."

"Mandragora and _Mimbulus mimbleonia would_ definitely be tested." Peter said. "Professor Sprout said the plants that are useful would usually be tested."

"What are the Madrakes for??" Sirius questioned, sounding lost.

"It's called Mandrake. M-A-N-D-R-A-K-E." Remus corrected. "Learnt in second year, remember??"

"It's a powerful restorative for those who have been petrified." James said without much effort. "To put it simply for your little brain."

"My brain is not _little_." Sirius defended. "It's just that most of them are used to store the Transfig. stuffs."

"Yeah, right." Stefanie teased. "What about pranks, food, girls-"

"Wait till I transfigure you to something else." Sirius gave a gentle shove on Stefanie's head.

"Don't you dare!!" Stefanie shoved Sirius' head a little harder, nearly bending him forward.


	112. Nearing Graduation

**Chapter 111: Nearing Graduation**

It was nearly three in the morning and the Marauders were still up in their dormitory doing their last minute studying. They had been good with Charms and the necessary wand work, but not the type being taught in school.

"Jeez.. Why would anyone need a Cheering Charm?? Can't they just test us or Irritation Charm or something??" James complained. He wanted to cast it on Sirius but decided it was a bad idea. Sirius did not need a Cheering Charm to be cheery.

"Less than twenty-four hours to go and we'll be like free birds." Sirius was bouncing in joy despite that they were supposed to be cramming their last bit of textbooks.

"That's because we had practiced the charms needed for our pranks, memorizing them as we played, not those unnecessary charms Flitwick taught. Other than _Alahomora_!! Sheesh!! It's _Alohomora_!!" Remus shook his head, muttering to himself. Charms had never been the Marauders' best subject. They were so used to reading incantations off the parchments and not in the memory of their heads

"_Accio_." Peter tried to summon his quill over from the table, preparing himself for the practical from the most basic Charms. "_Lumos_." A blue flame shot out from his wand tip. "Phew."

"What's the incantation for Protean Charm??" Sirius asked suddenly. The other three guys shot him a puzzled look and confirmed that they must had missed out something and immediately browsed through their big Charms textbook.

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Their final exam, Charms, was about to take place today. Most students, at least those who were rather okay with Charms, were in a much happier mood they had in the last month. The girls were already down for breakfast bright and early, all prepared for their Charms theory paper and practical.

"Thankfully the last paper isn't Potions or something." Lily said happily.

"Luckily it's all our strong subject." Stefanie added.

"Don't be too overconfident though." Joey was keeping their little ego at check still. "You never know until it's over."

"But I think it's another thing for the guys." Samantha was eyeing something, or more likely some people, entering the Great Hall for breakfast. The other girls turned around to see the Marauders, probably for first time in seven years, were carrying parchments, notes, and textbooks into the Great Hall for breakfast. That obviously earned many curious stares.

"Morning guys." The girls greeted as the Marauders nearly walked past them like zombies.

"What happened??" Lily asked in shock. The guys looked like they were seriously lack of sleep.

"We traveled back time to do some additional revision for two hours." James said, not sounding anywhere remotely awake.

"Via the time-turner, of course." Remus added quickly the moment Samantha and Joey shot them a blur look. They had brought Peter along who was too worried to question about Remus' supernatural ability. James had decided to ease his memory the moment they finished their Charms paper.

"Isn't this the stack of notes I gave you last week??" Stefanie asked Remus, flipping through the two-feet-high parchment on the table.

"I'm counting on it for my last-minute revision." Remus told her. James and Sirius had asked so many questions regarding Charms that I never remembered hearing in my last seven years.

"Like what??" Lily asked in amusement.

"Did we ever learn the Anti-Gravity Charm??" James asked.

"Yeah. Last year." Lily replied.

"Then what's the difference between the Charm and the Potion??" Sirius asked.

"The Potion was created before the Charm. Potion was meant for people and living creatures. The Charm is more for non-living objects. And it lasts longer than the Potion. Besides it's difficult to use the Charm on too many people or objects at the same time." Stefanie told the guys.

"Jeez. Which part was it in the textbook??" Sirius flipped though his Charms textbook.

"There." Stefanie turned to somewhere in near the back of the book and flipped several pages forward.

"Trust us to spend half an hour hunting for the answer and gave up in the end." Remus was sort of laughing at the guys' action the night before.

"It's time for the N.E.W.T. Theory of Charms Paper." Professor McGonagall announced from the front of the Hall. The students automatically left the Great Hall, though some seventh-years got out rather unwillingly.

"Sheesh!! That was so fast." Sirius was muttering to himself, flipping through parts of his text hoping to remember some important looking details as he reached out for another slice of toast. Peter was muttering already, pausing once in awhile to look at his textbook while he munched the last bit of his toast.

"Forget it." James folded his notes into half and shoved it into his book bag. "Just do what I know."

"That's the style I like about you." Lily gave him a gentle kiss on the cheek. "Good luck."

"Aren't I always lucky??" James grinned.

The doors for the Great Hall re-opened and the seventh-years re-entered the hall and went for the respective seats according to their houses. With the usual pre-examination speech and procedure, the paper commenced and silence filled the hall for the next two hours.

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The seventh-years from all four houses finished their lunch and then they trooped off into the small chamber beside the Great Hall, where they were to wait until called forwards in their alphabetical order. Those left behind muttered incantations and practiced wand movements, occasionally poking each other in the back or face by mistake.

Sirius and Stefanie's names were called first along with some other seventh-years from other houses.

"Good luck!!" The group of Gryffindor told the first two who left the chamber. Students who had already been tested did not return afterwards, for obvious reasons, so the rest had no idea how the twins had done.

Ten minutes later, Professor called Lily, along with three other students from other houses who surnames started with 'E' and 'F'.

"See ya later." Lily gave James' hand a squeeze and left the room with the usual 'good luck' wishes.

Joey went in ten minutes after Lily, looking slightly nervous about meeting the examiner. Remus was called twenty minutes after Joey.

"That was fast." Remus muttered inaudibly. The Gryffindors who heard him laughed a little and he disappeared off the room.

"Why are we always after them??" Samantha commented. She was fully prepared for her practical.

"We're awfully glad that we're given the privilege to do some extra practicing, ya know." James joked. The three stopped their conversation as he and Peter continued practicing some last minute wand movements, occasionally asking Samantha for advice and answers. Samantha was going through what she had studied through her mind and not concentrating on what was happening around her.

After what felt like ages, Professor Flitwick finally emerged.

"Pettigrew, Peter – Phillips, Samantha – Potter, James and -" Professor Flitwick listed the three names from Gryffindor and one from another house.

"Finally." James muttered. The four were one of the last few to leave the chamber towards the Great Hall. Professor Flitwick pointed James towards what looked like the very oldest and baldest examiner who was sitting behind a small table in a far corner.

The Professor consulting his notes and peering over his pince-nez at James after he had managed to answer every single question he had asked.

"That's all, you may go now." The examiner said.

"Thank you and good day." James said in triumph as he practically marched out of the exam hall. _Finally!! It went better than I thought._

"How did it go??" Lily, who was sitting along with the rest of the Gryffindors, went up towards him the moment he walked out of the Great Hall.

"Great." James was in high spirits. "How's yours??" He looked around his group of friends before he laid his eyes on Peter. _Better erase Wormtail's memory now. _He muttered 'obliviate' with his finger pointing at Peter, who gave a jerk and puzzled look before regaining his composition when Sirius started shoving him forward in excitement.

"Quite alright though." Lily smiled. "Aren't you glad the N.E.W.T.s are finally over??"

"This worth quite a celebration." Sirius was euphoric. "Let's throw a party in the common room."

"The rest of the students are in the midst of their studying in case you've forgotten our N.E.W.T.s happened to be few weeks ahead of theirs." Stefanie reminded.

"Who cares?? Let's get the whole Gryffindor into the celebration mood." Sirius suggested.

"I'm with Sirius for this." James gave his best friend a pat on his back.

"Guys are just guys. Well, since it's gonna be that happening, no way are we going to miss that." Stefanie smiled at the three other girls.

"Sounds great. If the Ravenclaws aren't having anything particular, I'll be there." Samantha told them.

"Cool, it's about time to start the preparation." James initiated. The group headed towards the kitchens to get some foodstuffs for their mini party in the common room.

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"Chhheeeeerrrs!!" The seventh-years raised their goblets into mid-air and shouted. They had decided to skip dinner in the Great Hall with the rest of the students and carried all the food and beverages up to the Gryffindor common room. Scooby had even offered an extra delivery service if they ever needed more food and they were immensely grateful for his kind gesture.

"Butterbeers from the Three Broomsticks rules a great time." Sirius said. The group gulped down their small goblet of Butterbeers before starting to feast on their dinner, which consisted of nearly everything.

"Wings??" James took a honey-grazed barbequed chicken wing and asked Lily.

"Sure." She smiled gratefully and took the wing.

"There you go." Remus and Stefanie were sharing one chicken wing; with Stefanie biting off bits and pieces so she would not 'dirty her dainty hands' as the way Remus described it.

"Awww.." Samantha said, hinting to Yann. Samantha's boyfriend from Ravenclaw had been invited to join them at their celebration since the Ravenclaws were not having any special post-exam-cum-pre-graduation party.

"Well, there you go." Yann joked and fed Samantha his chicken wings. "See what kind of examples you guys had been feeding her with." Samantha gave a little pout but ended up laughing over it in the end.

"It must be the girls' thing." James said almost immediately, and at the same time ducking from Lily's attempt of bones throwing. The group just laughed at the couple strange sense of humor.

"Play all you want but spare the food." Sirius reminded the duo. "For your information, I still wanna eat a proper dinner."

"Since when does anyone ever bother if Sirius eat a proper dinner??" Peter joked. The rest laughed at Sirius' wild attempt gave the saddest puppy look ever.

"Let's not water our dinner with too much saliva." James said, as he scooped some beef lasagna onto his plate. The rest helped themselves to the scrumptious meal of large variety of various cuisine.

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"Stef, are you sure you wanna be with me??" Remus asked Stefanie. The two were walking hand-in-hand in the evening by the Hogwart's lake. Giant's tentacles could be seen from afar, the sun was nearly setting and a dull looking half-moon was up in the sky.

"Definitely. I don't want to be with anyone else besides you. After so many years, you still have doubts??" Stefanie said in such a sincere tone that Remus would never have any uncertainties.

"But remember what Belle said ages ago, about us not being able together??" Remus reminded her.

"I know. That's why the more we should be together now. Who knows what's the future holds for us."

"But as a – you know, werewolf – I can't possibly get any decent job, how am I supposed to take care of you??"

"You know that the fact you're a werewolf never bothered me at all?? Moreover you got bitten because of _me_." Stefanie looked at him in the same grateful manner as she had always given everytime they talked about that topic.

"I don't know. Perhaps sometimes I just felt so inadequate." Remus looked down on the ground.

"Don't be. We might not have a lot of time to be together, so the more we should cherish the hours we're together." Stefanie leaned against Remus' muscular chest and closed her eyes.

"I always cherish the times we spend together. I promise no matter what happened, I'll never forget you."

"That's good enough." Stefanie whispered in contentment.

"So what career path are you going to take after we graduate??" Remus asked. They had seldom talked about the future because it always felt so far and unpredictable.

"What about you??" Stefanie replied with a question.

"As much as I wanted to be an Auror, I know that's not possible, given my condition. The Ministry would never allow me." Remus thought for a moment. "The alternative is to become a teacher in Hogwarts. Dumbledore had accepted me for who I am."

"I prefer the second option. If you really teach here, I'll stay here with you and do the same."

"Perhaps we can ask Dumbledore about it." Remus considered. "I won't put my hopes high especially since there are no vacancies for teachers at this moment."

"Whatever the path you choose, I'll follow as far as my feet take me to." Stefanie promised. An understanding silence filled the air as they stood in front of the now darkened lake, both deep in their own thoughts.

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"I think it's nearly ready." James commented, peering into the boiling cauldron. The Marauders had spent about a week brewing several different concoctions, storing them in large vials. They had visited the library doing some research on some strange topics. To start off, no one would visit the library after his or her exams, least expecting the Marauders. Madam Pince had been surprised to catch them doing some serious reading on a weekday afternoon when half the Hogwarts seventh-years were away at Hogsmeade having the time of their lives.

"Okay, these are the incantations for the Charms we need." Remus unrolled a long parchment, which looked at least ten-feet long. "I've arranged them to be said in this order, one after another."

"So we leave the Charm work to you." James said earnestly. "You're the brains of these works."

"Okay, we've got all the potions we need." Peter was jotting down notes and instructions from books and parchments.

"These are made from the world's finest quality and materials." James was unwrapping a large frame that was even larger than all four guys. They had bought all the raw materials from various shops in Hogsmeade having them delivered straight to their dormitory without passing the Great Hall owl mail. And after that, they spent half a day constructing and putting everything together.

"Cool."

"Very exquisite." Remus touched the gold frame with unique engravings on it.

"The paper and paints and brushes are of the highest quality wizards ever know." James had purchased the equipments since he knew where to find them.

"Let's get started." Sirius said excitedly. "I can't wait to see the end-product."

"The set is ready." Peter was shifting the furniture away magically, leaving a part of their dormitory wall emptied. "You can take your position now."

"We need to mix the potions and say the incantations on these stuffs first." Remus was telling them. He used his wand and muttered many complicated charms and mixed many different concoctions. Obviously Remus knew what he was doing.

"How is it going??" Sirius asked curiously.

"Padfoot, give Moony some peace. When he's ready, he will say." James stood in front of the mirror combing along side by side with Sirius.

"All these trouble for just one hour." Sirius muttered as he styled his hair and straightened all the creases on his Hogwarts robes.

"Aha. Nice and shiny." James muttered a charm to polish his Head Boy badge until it nearly glistened in the sunlight that shown from the window.

"Wormtail, are you done??" Sirius poked his head into their shared bathroom to see if Peter was ready. He was applying some pimple concealer and spraying some hairspray on his hair to keep it in place.

"Prongs, don't even attempt to borrow that." Sirius pointed at Peter's hairspray. The last time James had tried on any form of hair styling product, be it magical or muggle, the results were disastrous. The only thing he could use on his hair without looking too absurd was simple hair gel.

"It's ready." Remus looked up finally after fifteen minutes of mixing and chanting. "Woah!! You guys prepared without me." He quickly got to the front of the mirror and combed his already neat hair and straightened his clean and ironed Hogwarts uniform.

"I think we look good." Sirius commented. The four guys stood in front of the half-length mirror in the bathroom, looking at themselves.

"The most gorgeous young men I ever seen in my life as a mirror." The half-length mirror said.

"Thanks, mirror." The guys replied, with a last look at their perfect appearance, they headed towards the position and posed. Remus said the incantation and immediately the action started.


	113. The Portrait

**Chapter 112: The Portrait**

"Is it done yet??" Sirius asked a little impatiently. They had been standing rather still for the last thirty minutes as the enchanted paintbrushes glided smoothly.

"I guess not. They're still moving." Remus looked at the moving brushes and their half-painted portrait. All ten brushes were moving magically on the large parchment held down by an antique and yet elegantly engraved frame in the middle of the Marauders' dormitory.

"Just stay still for awhile more if you want quality results." James said rather inaudibly as he tried to minimize the movements. He and Sirius was sort of leaning against each other at the upper body, tilted at a slight angle. James' right hand rested on Remus' left shoulder as he stood without much of a pose. Since Peter was the shortest, he stood in front of James and Sirius and both guys placed their forearms on his shoulders.

"This is definitely more than _awhile_ but I'm not complaining." Sirius muttered. The four guys were near enough to hear one another. After remaining still and silent for fifteen minutes, they decided that some talking was a must.

"Padfoot, the brushes will stop painting once they've finished. They're _enchanted_, you know??" Remus reminded him.

"Alright." Sirius put on his most captivating smile as he noticed one of the brushes flew to do some touch-up on Sirius' mouth in the picture.

"Finally they're doing the touching up." James noticed that the whole painting was nearing completion. The charmed brushes were dabbing some of the final touch up here and there. After what felt like another fifteen minutes, the brushes stopped and flew back to their original position where Remus left them before they started.

"Done." James was feeling rather exhilarated. "Shucks, I'm having pins and needles all over." After standing so still for about an hour, it was no surprise that the blood circulation had slowed down. "Ouch, ouch, ouch." He squatted down for a while, and then straightened his hands and legs a little while keeping a hand on the wall for support.

"I am not feeling any better than you." Sirius had been squatting down the moment he moved from the stillness. The pricking sensation was over his body as he tried to bend his joints.

"Luckily I didn't pose as seriously as you guys." Remus was saying teasingly. After he stretched the muscles in his limbs and torso, everything was feeling perfectly normal.

"I'm having trouble even standing up now." Peter was in a squatting position. "And my shoulders are aching, thanks to you two." He was complaining but in a nice manner. _Conscience is pricking enough._

"What's next??" James was stretching and bending his limbs as he asked Remus who was lying on the bed and referring to the list of protocol.

"We've to add four drops of all the potions needed for perfect animated portraits." Remus pointed at the seven vials standing on his table consisting different potions for various uses on paintings.

"Make it five for extreme effects." Sirius was feeling exhilarated. "I remember reading that adding an extra drop will enhance the effects."

"I'm with Padfoot for that." James agreed and the two guys gave each other a high-five despite their jabbing pain.

"Alright." Remus added five drops of the first solution, which was to add motion into the picture. The liquid spread across the whole picture and slowly the four figures came into life. "Next for maximum surround sound effects." He took the next vial and added five drops.

"I think I look good." Sirius was looking very pleased with the way he was drawn.

"Don't we all look good??" Peter commented.

"Definitely." James agreed. "One of my best portraits."

"Don't mess up my hair!!" The Sirius in the Portrait shouted at the James inside. The two guys seemed to be attempting to mess up each other hairdo.

"That's a funny sight." James raised his brows, laughing at himself and Sirius in the portrait.

"Okay, next is for permanent ever-changing movements." Remus dropped the five drops of potion on the picture and waited for it to spread.

"Where's the incantation of the Permanent Sticking Charm??" James asked suddenly.

"It's right here." Remus pointed at a lengthy paragraph of writing on one of the many parchments. "You forgotten about it already?? Considering we had an important exam on that question about a week ago."

"I returned every bit of knowledge to Flitwick the moment I left the exam hall." James replied without looking away from the portrait.

"Next is the Recognition Potion." Remus added five drops of the potion and it slowly spread all across the whole picture.

"James??" The James in the picture was talking to the real James.

"Good, you can recognize yourself." James grinned at himself in the picture as if it was a mirror.

"Prongs, you look a little retarded talking to yourself in the picture." Sirius was literally rolling on floor laughing.

"I bet you're going to talk to _yourself_ soon enough."

"Remus??" Sirius called out.

"Yes??" Both the Remus beside him and the Remus in the picture replied simultaneously.

"This is even funnier." James started laughing at the two Remus who was looking a little confused until they caught the joke that Sirius was pulling.

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"Everyone cleared??" Sirius asked James as he re-entered the boys' dormitory smelling like dung.

"You bet." James was grinning despite the fact that he was stinking his entire dormitory. He had just gone to the common room to do his duty as a Head Boy and a Marauder. It was nearing one in the middle of the night and some of the younger students were still loitering around the common room, staying up ridiculously late to their liking. So James, had gone to plant some enchanted dungbombs around the common room, and then started chasing the students back to their dormitory. Obviously most of the students groaned and refused to move, even those who attempted to walk had literally crawled up the stairs. So he immediately muttered the spell to release the bombs all at once. And immediately everyone cleared the dormitory without much delay. After making sure he heard all the doors for the dormitories shut and no more students lingering around, he returned to his dormitory.

"Well, you don't smell good, ya know??" Sirius was commenting.

"Someone had to do the dirty job. I'm the noble knight who sacrifices himself." James said with the egoistical tone.

"Yeah, right." Sirius muttered.

"Let's not delay any further." Remus reminded them. "Before anyone returns." The Marauders quickly arrange themselves. James leading in front to make sure the coast is clear; Sirius was guarding behind to make sure no one was behind; Remus kept the humongous portrait levitated and Peter making sure it did not bump onto anything and remained in the tip-top condition.

"Jeez.. There's the portrait hole." James muttered to himself when they walked across the common room. He chanted the incantation of the Enlargement Charm and the human size portrait door now doubled their height and large enough for the portrait to float out nicely.

Remus referred to the spell he written on his parchment to remove the painting of another lady on the right to the Gryffindor entrance. Slowly he moved the painting down to his right.

"What are you all trying to do??" The Fat Lady had woken up due to the opening of the entrance.

"Nothing much. Do continue your rest." Sirius said innocently to the portrait, while winking at the rest of the Marauders. The portraits nearby that were awake were watching the Marauders inquiringly, wondering what they could be doing and talking among themselves.

"Are you trying to change the portrait??" The Fat Lady asked, eyeing Remus' direction suspiciously.

"No." Sirius was trying to divert her attention away. "Nothing of that sort."

Remus had levitated the Marauders' Portrait up to the location where the previous painting stood. He muttered the Permanent Sticking Charm and stood back. Then he levitated the previous painting down the corridor where the walls were empty, and fixed the painting up again.

"This is so cool." The Sirius in the Portrait said in hysterical excitement.

"Hey you!! Have some action!!" Sirius told the Marauders in the painting. They looked practically three-dimensional. So real that you could mistake them for real Marauders and not just painting.

"Can't wait to see how the people will respond." The James in the Portrait was saying to the others.

"Well, you guys can have some _mild_ actions tomorrow morning." James told the Portrait.

"What had you guys done??" The Fat Lady looked absolutely horrified at her new next-door neighbors.

"Hello!!" The Marauders in the Portrait were waving wildly to the Fat Lady, which was rather hilarious when you watched it from the real Marauders' point of view.

"This can't be happening." The Fat Lady was muttering rather inarticulately.

"Hello everyone!!" The Marauders in the Portrait were waving to all the paintings around, waking most of them up from the rest.

"I think it's about time we ought to sleep." Remus said. The noise level had increased quite a fair bit considering it was already one in the morning.

"Accio." James told the nonsensically simple password to the Fat Lady and the portrait swung open. She was still muttering at the new change of neighbor. "We're going to have an interesting morning soon." The four boys climbed up to their dormitory quickly and dropped onto their bed. Within seconds, the snoring sounds from the four beds overpowered the silence.

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"Hey Lily!!" A voice sounded like James called out as Lily climbed out of the Gryffindor tower entrance.

"Huh??" Lily looked around for traces of James.

"Lils, what did you stop halfway??" Stefanie called out from the back.

"Oh – is it?? Sorry." Lily quickly walked away from the entrance and looked around for the source of voice.

"Hey Stef!!" Stefanie stopped and looked behind her and gave a puzzled look and climbed out. "I thought Remus was behind me." She told Lily.

"I'm just as confused. I heard James but I didn't see him." Lily frowned a little, looking right and left.

"We're over here." Lily and Stefanie looked around them before they laid their eyes on something very peculiar. They looked up at the portrait on the right side of the Fat Lady and gasped.

"Oh – er – what's going on??" Lily was totally caught off guard looking at the Marauder verisimilitudes. Even Stefanie was too shocked for words.

"What are you guys doing in there??" Stefanie asked in a surprise.

"That's because we're the painting of the Marauders." The Remus-look-alike answered to her queries.

"What??" Lily and Stefanie said together coincidentally. It sounded, and looked, as though their sense of hearing and sight was deceiving them.

"It can't be. I mean that's not possible." Lily said rationally. "You guys look so real. How can a painting look so _three-dimensional_??"

"Seriously, how did you guys end up there??" Stefanie asked the Marauders in portrait.

"We are speaking the truth." Remus told them. "We're really the painting of the Marauders."

"Are you sure??" Lily asked skeptically.

"They're really paintings." The Fat Lady told the two girls.

"Huh??" Lily and Stefanie looked confused.

"The four guys changed the painting last night." The Fat Lady said in such an annoyed and tired tone.

"Ooh – thanks." The two girls did not know what else to say.

"Accio." Lily gave the password and the portrait of the Fat Lady swung opened. The two girls went in and headed straight to the seventh-year boys' dormitory.

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"Cool!!"

"How did they do that??"

"Must be really talented!!"

"I want to have a portrait of myself up in Hogwarts too!!"

"I bet its loads of work!!"

"Great job!!"

"How did you guys do that??" Ted and Alex jogged up towards the Marauders as they came down to the common room, accompanied by Lily and Stefanie.

"The Marauders' portrait looked so much better than all the others around Hogwarts!!" Kate complimented and Andromeda nodded in agreement.

"Maybe we should get out Gryffindor house team up as well." Gracie suggested. Most of the Gryffindors were in the common room or outside talking animatedly about the new portrait.

"Good job!!" One of the Gryffindor prefects called out to them.

"Thank you!! Thank you!!" Sirius started waving his hands to everyone in the common room. "We hope you love it." Most of the first- to third- years were clapping and cheering for the Marauders. "We just want all of you to remember us in the years to come!!" More applause were heard, even from those in the higher years.

"Guys!!" Stefanie laughed and shook her head. The two girls were quite hidden with the whole Gryffindor surrounding the Marauders.

"How did you guys do that??"

"What charms did you use??"

"Any potions??"

"Well, we can't disclose any of our Marauders' secrets to all of you here." James called out, drowning the voice of the noisy chatters. "If you study hard and pay attention to class, you can create your own portrait someday too."

"Yeah, right." Lily rolled her eyes at James' comment. "So much for studying hard and paying attention to classes, like Charms and Potions??" The Marauders were known for barely paying attention in Potions, and Charms was never their forte.

"Breakfast is about half finished. And lessons will be starting soon." Remus told the group of keen listeners. "Skipping classes isn't something you should do since exams are nearing." In a flash, most of the students dashed out of the common room, giving them peace once again.

"We should keep them here longer. They would miss us once we graduate." Sirius told Remus when the last traces of students had left the Gryffindor tower.

"I think we should start heading for breakfast too. Don't you guys agree??" Lily told them.

"Yeah, that reminds me. I'm feeling hungry." James touched his stomach.

"I'm sure by now the whole school would have heard of the Marauders' portrait." Remus joked. The group of six chatted and joked all the way until the Great Hall when they realized that breakfast was already over.

"Oops, breakfast's gone." Lily pretended to shriek in surprise.

"Have you forgotten the kitchens??" James told her.

"No, I haven't. That's why I'm not panicking."

"Let's go to the kitchens for a breakfast feast." Sirius announced.

"Not another feast." The two girls groaned. It seemed like the Marauders were feasting themselves every now and then ever since exams were over.

"I'm getting fat." Lily complained.

"Me too." Stefanie agreed.

"Me three." James added.

"Prongs!! You're behaving like a girl!!" Sirius scolded lightly. "That's so unbecoming of you."

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"Mr. Potter, Miss Evans." The six of them turned around to see Professor McGonagall storming towards them.

"Uh-oh" Peter muttered inaudibly.

"Morning, Professor." All six of them greeted Professor McGonagall.

"Professor Dumbledore wants to talk to both of you now." Professor McGonagall said. "In his office."

"Okay." James and Lily followed Professor McGonagall while the other four of them headed towards the lake.

"Did something happen??" Lily asked.

"Professor Dumbledore will tell you about the details." This signaled the maximum information Professor McGonagall would disclose on their way towards their Headmaster's office.

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"The painting idea is so cool!!" The seventh-year Ravenclaws, apparently had heard of the Marauders' portrait, came by the area where the three Marauders and Stefanie were sitting by the lake.

"Hey girls." Stefanie greeted her Ravenclaw friends. "Join us??"

"Thanks." They three Ravenclaw girls said at different timing.

"We heard about the Marauders' painting, and even went to take a look at it." Eva commented. "That's such a brilliant idea."

"Of course, you can't expect anything below standard from the Marauders." Sirius said in a rather pompous and funny manner as he joined the girls.

"Any clues on how to go about doing it??" Mabel asked with a mischievous glint in her eyes.

"Nah, nah!!" Sirius shook his index finger. "As beautiful and attractive you ladies are I can't disclose any Marauders' secrets."

"How about some hints??" Jun asked.

"Do some research and try some concoctions." Sirius was enjoying the attention from the girls. Stefanie and Remus moved a few steps away from the group, enjoying each other company and looking at the Hogwarts Lake. Peter was sitting on top at a lower branch of the tree, appearing to be deep in thoughts.

"That isn't very helpful. Any more??" Mabel asked again.

"That's the most I can disclose. Check out the library and invent new potions??"

"Aww. We thought we might want to learn from the Marauders. Since they're like the most brilliant students around."

"Thank you!! We knew that. But of course, there're many hidden talents that you girls don't know."

"Can't you just give us more obvious clues??" Eva asked again.

"Sorry, Marauders' pledge to secrecy." Sirius shrugged. "What you need to do is improvise the potions already available. That's the most obvious hint I can give you." He flashed his most charming smile.


	114. Post Portrait Effect

**Chapter 113: Post Portrait Effect**

"Sorry, but Professor, I don't quite get what you mean." Lily asked. Professor Dumbledore had called James and Lily to his office to tell them about some important matters.

"Let me start right from the beginning." Professor Dumbledore said in fatherly manner. "I set up this society, more like a secret society, named Order of the Phoenix. I called Phoenix because Order of Dumbledore would sound rather egotistic. So I named it after my new phoenix, Fawkes." James and Lily nodded to show that he was having their complete attention. "I set this up around three years ago since Voldemort first attack to Hogwarts students and family. Since then, I had been trying to recruit as many wizards and witches as possible. All of us share the similar view, to defeat Voldemort. Many of us are our very own Hogwarts teachers, graduated students; several from the Ministry and many were Aurors as well. We work closely together trying to stop him from raising into power and prevent massacre to those muggleborns."

"So can we join this Order to defeat Voldemort as well??" James asked frowning slightly, sounding determined.

"This is why I called both of you here for." Professor Dumbledore had a rather distant look in his eyes. "I would like both of you, with Sirius, Remus and Stefanie to be part of this order."

"What about Peter??" James asked automatically.

"What about Samantha and Joey??" Lily asked.

"As for your friends, they're more than welcome." Professor Dumbledore said. "But of course this involve high risk and danger. Defeating Voldemort is not an easy thing as it had already been proven. This order needs more than just the six of you, including Arabella, to defeat Voldemort."

"Arabella is part of the Order too??" Lily asked in surprised.

"She is already part of the Order. But I didn't allow her to participate much as she is not of age yet. I told her to wait for the five of you to graduate before joining us officially. Of course she had been present for several meetings." Professor Dumbledore smiled. "I believe when the six of you join forces, miracles can happen."

"So do you want us to inform them about it??" James asked.

"No, not yet. I want both of you to hear about it first, being the Head Boy and Girl. I'll ask them gradually within this week." Professor Dumbledore said kindly. "So tell me, what do you think about this??"

"We'll definitely join the Order to get rid of Voldemort once and for all." James said firmly.

"Definitely." Lily nodded in agreement.

"But for now, I don't want both of you to breathe a word out. Walls have ears." Professor Dumbledore warned. "This can never be discussed outside this office. As for who shall be inside this Order, we would pick only the most loyal and trustworthy."

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"Did Dumbledore ask.." Joey entered their dormitory and closed the door behind her before asking.

"Yes." Lily replied, knowing jolly well what she wanted to ask. Stefanie and Samantha nodded knowingly.

"Oh – and did you agree??" Joey asked again. She seemed to be a little shocked.

"Yes, we did." Stefanie said patiently, walking over to give Joey a hug. They exchanged a knowing look.

"Let's not talk about this." Samantha said. "Walls, ears, you know."

"Alright." Lily tried to lighten the mood. "So what are you guys going to wear for graduation??" Their Graduation Ceremony was about going to be on 4th July, and that would be a week after the day the first- to sixth-years return home for their holidays.

"That's like three weeks away." Stefanie said enthusiastically. "Perhaps we can head down to Hogsmeade to see if we can get anything??"

"So what are we waiting for??" Samantha added. "Let's go." The four girls left the dormitory, going to have a fun afternoon with the Order of the Phoenix placed at the back of their minds.

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"Soundproofed!!" James returned the wand into his back pocket of his jeans after casting the Soundproofing Charm.

"Dumbledore – h-he just asked me to j-join the – the O-Order of the P-Phoenix." Peter said breathlessly. Dumbledore had already gotten the three guys to see him in his office and now, Peter had just returned from the meeting.

"So what's your decision??" Sirius asked.

"I-I don't k-know." Peter stammered. "I can't do a-anything."

"Relax, Wormtail. It isn't that scary." James said soothingly.

"So what did you tell Dumbledore??" Remus asked kindly.

"H-he asked me to think about it." Peter looked on the floor helplessly, not really knowing what to do.

"Well, the decision is yours." James told him. "No one is forcing you to do anything you don't wish to."

"Thanks. I'll think about it." Peter avoided eye contact with any of his friends and climbed straight into his bed. The other three guys just shrugged, not knowing what to say or do.

"Wormtail, if you need any help, we'll be around." Remus told Peter and he ushered the two other guys out of their dormitory.

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"The idea of having you in, you know, kind of worries me." James was telling his worries to Lily.

"Why?? You're inside as well. Don't you think I'll be worried??" Lily said in a lighter manner.

"But it's you that I'm worried about." James frowned a little.

"Don't talk about that. What is destined to happen will happen ultimately." Lily was trying to suppress some of her fears as well.

"I just don't want anything to happen to you."

"I don't want anything to happen to you either. But we can't sit around and do nothing with all the sufferings out there." Lily explained patiently.

"I'm okay. You know those people who are against muggleborns and everything."

"I'm sure Dumbledore wouldn't put us to something that risky. Yes, I know there are risks. But think about the peace and happiness with him off all our minds when he's gone??"

"Yes, but-"

"Don't try to explain. I understand." Lily smiled and looked deep into his eyes.

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"The whole school had seen it!! Can you believe it, _Uncle James_??" Kate Potter told the Marauders. It was barely a week ever since the portrait was up next to the Gryffindor tower. In fact, Gryffindor tower's entrance had never been more famous.

"Don't call me-" James attempted to reply but his voice was drowned by the crowd of over-enthusiastic students.

"Everyone is talking about it." Andromeda added in excitedly. "It's like the coolest thing anyone ever done in the history of Hogwarts." The four first-years were cornering the Marauders in the common room.

"We really need to learn lots from you guys." An energized Alex was literally jumping up and down. The Marauders were practically surrounded by a swarm of Gryffindor students from first- to fourth-years.

"Can you guys just guide us on how to go about doing these pranks, and stuffs??" Ted asked eagerly.

"You are all talking at the same time." Sirius raised his hands, trying to silence the group of hyped-up crowd. "One at a time, please." The noise level reduced dramatically as all the students looked up at the Marauders since they were all at least a head taller than the rest of them.

"As we have mentioned again and again, just pay attention in classes." James told the flock of students who hung onto every word he said attentively. "And of course, you must take some initiative to do some research and extra reading."

"Can you tell us some references to start with??" A second-year asked.

"Always start with the textbooks." Remus grinned and shot a look at the rest of the Marauders. "Just branch out from there. Besides, the textbooks are thick enough without the rest of the references." The students laughed at his mild sense of humor.

"So what charm or potion or whatever you used on your portrait to make it look so three dimensional??" A third-year asked. "They looked and behave just like you guys."

"Well, we spent many months to do the research and read about a few hundred reference books." Sirius said in a slightly boastful manner. "So using our knowledge, we combined and created some new charms and potions. We just make it better."

"Wow!!"

"The Marauders are the smartest wizards in the world."

"Thanks for your compliments. But there are definitely much more intelligent wizards out there that you have yet to meet." James said modestly.

"That's so unlike you." Remus looked at James, eye brows raised in surprised.

"I agree with you." Peter added and nodded in agreement.

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"Our Caretaker, Mr. Filch had just reminded me to remind all of you once again. _Do not_, I repeat _do not_ attempt to create any self-portrait and hang them along the corridors, or anywhere else for that matter." Professor Dumbledore said once again with a twinkle in his eyes. Since the appearance of the Marauders' portrait about two weeks ago, many other students had attempted to come out with their own group portrait and hung them around the corridors. "Our poor caretaker had just removed seven portraits today adding to a total number of eighty-three in the last two weeks."

Argus Filch was standing at the entrance of the Great Hall holding onto Mrs. Norris, looking very crossed indeed. He was literally shooting daggers at the Marauders, as well as all the other students who put up their portraits.

"As most of you had noticed, your portraits are way below the normal standard of how a person in the portrait should behave." Professor Dumbledore said in a rather light-hearted manner than a serious tone. Most of the students in their portraits had misbehaved so badly that it had affected the neighboring permanent portrait residents. One group of Slytherins in their portrait had run around the entire neighboring portraits doing graffiti on their background while another group of them had conjured snakes to chase the people out of the pictures. In fact, Argus Filch had spent all his time dealing with all possible problems with students in portraits for the last two weeks and had not done anything else since.

"So once again, I would like to remind all of you _not _to, I repeat _not_ to, put up any self-portraits anywhere around the castle. Thank you." Professor Dumbledore resumed his seat and the food appeared magically on the plates that were aligned in front of them.

"Hogwarts should thank us for creating such educational entertainment and encouragement for the students to study so hard." James said as he helped himself with the food in front of him.

"Pince never had more students in the library in her entire career as a librarian and considering the fact that the exams are over." Lily joked. The number of students visiting the library had increased nearly ten-fold ever since the Marauders told the news of doing extra reading in the library for their wonderfully designed portrait.

"She had too much to handle. Thanks to you guys." Stefanie teased. Many older students had sneaked into the restricted section of the library while other students were around to distract her. Of course, she placed bars at the entrance to the restricted section for protective measures, which was not too helpful because.

"Look at the number of students _studying_ in the library." Remus pointed out. "It's more than the exam seasons or N.E.W.T.s."

"Yeah, not to mention the reserve list for the popular books were so lengthy." Sirius said. "Any book and every book that got to do with Transfig., Charms and Potions."

"Porky probably never had more attentive students than before." James said and all of them laughed at their own visual image of Porky's roomful of attentive students.

"It's really hard to imagine." Lily laughed and she tried to chew her food at the same time.

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"Hey, myself!!" A familiar voice called out. "Lily dear how's your day??"

"Don't call Lily 'dear'." James told the James in the portrait.

"Hi James." Lily grinned at the three-dimensional James in front of her. The James in the portrait was slightly taller and bigger than the actual James. And besides, the Marauders seemed to have the walk-out-of-their-portrait effect.

"Why can't I call Lily 'dear'?? She _is_ my girlfriend." The James in the portrait replied.

"She _is_ my girlfriend and you're just _my_ picture." James' voice seemed to carry a tinge of jealousy.

"What's the difference anyway??" Lily shook her head and laughed. "Both of you _are_ James."

"I'm real while he is just a picture." James crossed his arms in front of his chest as he argued with the James in the portrait.

"Okay, whatever." Lily put up her hands in a surrendering manner. "Let's get into the tower." She grabbed James' hand and pulled him into the Gryffindor tower. "It seems like you've nothing better to do. Create your own portrait and start arguing with you in the picture. Rather ridiculous from an outsider point of view." Lily laughed as she talked.

"Hey James, Lily. You wanna hear something funny??" Stefanie called out to the duo that just entered the common room.

"Sure, what is it about??" Lily asked curiously.

"It's Remus. He was talking, or should I say debating, with the Remus in the portrait." Stefanie started laughing at the thought of Remus debating with himself in the picture.

"Well, this James here was _arguing_ with himself. Which is funnier??" Both girls burst into hysterical laughter while James and Remus remained silent.

"Moony, don't you think we ought to defend ourselves or something??" James asked Remus who was sitting quietly in front of him. "They're laughing at our expense." Both girls burst into laughter again.

"I've absolutely no comments." Remus said in such a solemn tone that made the three of them laughed out loud. "I guess that was rather funny, huh." With the three of them laughing so heartily in front of him, Remus could not help but laughed as well.

"Am I missing out some good joke??" Sirius asked as he and Peter settled down in the empty couches.

"We were just laughing at James arguing with the portrait James." Lily wiped her eyes that were getting teary with all the laughing they had.

"Then I'm sure you'll think that this Sirius fighting and probably _hexing_ with the portrait Sirius is the funniest joke of the century." Peter commented, trying to hold back his laughing. Needless more elaboration, the whole group burst into hilarious laughter.

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"Ten more days to graduation." Professor Dumbledore started. "What are your feelings right now??" The five teens, namely James, Lily, Sirius, Remus and Stefanie were called to his office for a highly confidential meeting.

"Stepping into the real world." James said without hesitation and even lesser enthusiasm.

"I'm going to miss Hogwarts." Lily said with a tinge of sadness.

"Same here. I'm going to miss the life in Hogwarts." Stefanie added. The two girls exchanged eye contact.

"The real world is waiting for Sirius Black." Sirius joked in his own sense of humor.

"I guess it's time to face reality." Remus sighed.

"Well, these are the usual feelings most of my seventh-years face just before they graduate." Professor Dumbledore was studying their expressions. "But for the few of you, there're more things to come than what you're expecting."

"Face Voldemort." James said grimly, frowning. The rest of them had the similar look of understanding.

"And defeat him once and for all." Sirius frowned with a determined look on his face.

"I'm really looking forward to the peace in our magical community with him out of our lives." Lily's eyes looked distant.

"For years, many had tried to conquer him in a way or another. Instead of defeating him, he gets more powerful." Professor Dumbledore sounded slightly pessimistic. "So far he can't do anything with me as much as he wanted to."

"Why??" Lily asked.

"Because I know more of him than anyone else. I had seen through him all the years while he was still a student in Hogwarts. He fears me more than anyone else because I knew too much about him for his liking. More than once, I had stopped him doing certain things. If not for me, he would have become stronger and more powerful earlier. But now, it's too late, he's beyond my control." Professor Dumbledore stood up and had a very distant look.


	115. Graduation

**Chapter 114: Graduation**

"Graduation is really kinda boring." James commented, eyeing a group of familiar foursome heading their direction. For the first time in history, most of the students had requested to stay back to participate in the graduation ceremony for the seventh-years.

"Yeah, the _whole_ school is still around!!" Sirius said in a dramatic nonchalance manner.

"I just don't see what's so nice about graduation. All the seventh-years before us had the entire compound to themselves in their last week but not us." Remus commented while twiddling with a broken twig on his right hand.

"Hey Marauders." The four first-year Gryffindors greeted simultaneously. All four faces were plastered with a suspicious-looking wide grin.

"What brings you here to our hideout??" James joked. The Marauders were hanging out at the big tree, overlooking the Hogwarts Lake whereby Giant was swinging his tentacles as if it was doing a farewell dance for them.

"We just want to steal a few minutes of your time." Kate Potter said in an extremely sweet manner.

"I detect something in that comment." James frowned slightly but in a nice manner.

"Uncle James, you're so smart!!" Kate grinned mischievously and clasped her hands together.

"One more 'uncle' and you get no answers." James crossed his arms. The rest of the group laughed at James' comical reaction to the sensitive word 'uncle'.

"All right, the almighty, brilliant, clever, diligent, eloquent, fantastic, gallant, hand-" Kate of listing out some of the characteristic that might be found in James in small quantity.

"Get straight to the point." James rolled his eyes but nevertheless he was beaming away.

"Just wondering, well, Alex wants to ask you something." Kate pointed to Alex Weasley.

"What?? It's not me, Ted wanted to know." Alex pointed at Ted Tonks.

"Me?? It's you that wanted to ask." Ted pushed Alex's finger away.

"Don't argue over who wants to know. What is it actually??" Remus asked, breaking their mini-argument.

"He-" Alex and Ted pointed at each other as they started talking.

"Never mind about the guys, let me tell you." Andromeda moved forward and spoke. "The two boys, namely Alex and Ted, wants to, no, actually is _dying_ to ask you guys, once and again, how did you guys come up with the Marauders' portrait."

"It's the Marauders' secret." Sirius said cheekily.

"Sorry, can't disclose anything." James shrugged.

"We did lots of reading on our textbooks and library books but just can't seems to find anything suitable." Kate told them.

"If we were your age, we wouldn't be able to do that too." Remus told them.

"Remus is right, creating a portrait is definitely too advance for first-years." James nodded in agreement.

"When we were first-years, our pranks were so much simpler as compared to what you seen us doing this year." Remus told them. "We had seven years of knowledge and experience in transfiguring objects, concocting potions, improving charms, and lots of reading up. You guys had just ended your first year in Hogwarts. I daresay it's impossible to create a portrait like us. If you can, all of you must be geniuses."

"That's true. At this age, do some simple transfiguring stuff. Like matchsticks to birds or something." Sirius suggested.

"But that's so boring!!" Ted pointed out. "You guys did something so wonderfully brilliant. This idea is going to be so awfully off if we do it."

"We did that in our first or second year before. Toothpicks or matchsticks, I don't remember whichever, into rabbits." James told them. "It was a hit, mind you."

"That's because back then no one else had done it. Now that you guys had did that, it's like history. We need something more cool." Alex said.

"How is creating a portrait more cool?? Since we had already did one." James asked.

"We can do it on other stuffs, like – erm, we'll think of some soon, and use your teachings and guidance." Ted tried to persuade the Marauders.

"Boys, listen, once again I must re-emphasize my point. Study hard and pay attention in class whereby you get to learn the most things. And then with the books from library, improve it. To start off, try reading some books on Transfiguration." James suggested.

"We already read and know all about the Animagus." Andromeda said. "But unfortunately all animagi need to be registered with the Ministry. Otherwise we can explore the Forbidden Forest in our free time." The Marauders exchanged a look filled with the mixture of defiant and responsibility.

"And we also read about the Patronus Charm. Remember you guys did it at the beginning of this year??" Kate told them then she closed her eyes and tried to concentrate on a happy thought. "_Expecto Patronum_!!" A swish of whitish mist emerged from the end of her wand and disappeared as quickly as it had appeared.

"Not too bad, at least you've got some whitish stuff coming out." James praised.

"I'm intending to practice until I can produce a full-fledged patronus. The animal that I would want is a unicorn." Kate said excitedly and she tried again. "_Expecto Patronum_!!"

"Alright, you guys don't have to practice the seventh-year syllabus. They are too difficult and advanced for you four." Remus was trying to calm the four younger students.

"Practicing something too advanced could have side effects." James told them.

"We know. It will deplete our energy in a great deal, causing fainting sensations and might be even more serious than just that." Ted said in his brainiest manner.

"We've got enough chocolates with us to make sure nothing happen." All of them pulled out several bars of chocolates from their pockets.

"You guys sure know your stuffs." Sirius laughed nodding away and turned towards his fellow Marauders. "They _really_ did studied."

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"Well, Hogwarts robes for the Graduation Ceremony. Can anything get more exciting than this??" Lily commented while she lain on her stomach, her hands supporting her head. The four Gryffindor girls were hanging out in their dormitory resting and relaxing away.

"Our excitement is in the Marauders' hands, try asking them." Joey joked, looking up from the latest issue of Witch Weekly on her lap. "Well, we can try dress robes or something, if you want."

"What can beat the fact that the entire population is still in Hogwarts as if it is a normal school day??" Samantha pointed out. The most peaceful place in the entire Hogwarts compound was probably their dormitory, especially since they would not be using it anymore in the future.

"Thanks to the Marauders. All the fans and _idolizers_ wants to watch them graduate." Stefanie laughed, peeling the tissue mask off and massaging her face to enhance absorption.

"You know I'm going to miss this feeling so so so much!!" Lily let out a big sigh. "I'm so used to living with you four for so many years, seven years to be precise. It's going to be so different to wake up in a room without seeing your sleepy faces."

"Lils just thought that I should let you know something." Samantha turned over and seemed to be enjoying the comfort of her bed. "You were never awake enough to see our sleepy faces. It's more like the other way round."

"Oooh.. It's the same thing anyway." Lily defended and the other three girls laughed. "Anyway what are you all going to wear on the Graduation Party??"

"Changing the topic, huh."

"You mean the one after the ceremony or the one at James' place??"

"I thought we already had the dress robes for the one after the ceremony??"

"I'm referring to the evening one at James' place." Lily turned around and lain on her back, looking up the ceiling of the dormitory.

"Something simple, I guess." Joey thought for a while.

"Spaghetti top and jeans or perhaps a toga. Common combination." Stefanie was packing some of her clothes into her nearly filled trunk. All the girls seemed to be spending most of their last few days in the dormitory than anywhere else.

"Hey, what do you think about having a gathering once a month??" Lily asked suddenly.

"Good idea. But I think in the future when we get a stable job and everything, we'll meet even lesser." Samantha pointed out.

"But at least for now, I think meeting up once a month isn't a difficult thing to do. I'm in for that." Stefanie placed a few more things into her trunks.

"Perhaps for dinner or something. No matter how busy we are going to be in the future, I think we really should cherish this kind of friendship. Tough to come by." Joey said frankly.

"That's a deal. We can get Bell to join us too." Lily said excitedly, jumping up from her previously lying down position.

"Sounds wonderful. Maybe we can do some muggle stuffs for a change." Samantha added.

"Our first outing shall be in August then, since we're already in July." Stefanie suggested. "Perhaps if we've yet to get a job, we can have a slumber party or something like that."

"Cool. I'm already looking forward for that." Lily said enthusiastically.

"Same here."

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"Wow!! James Potter making a speech for official business. Sounds like something incredible, huh." James commenced his Head's speech in a comfortable and slightly informal manner after Professor Dumbledore's Headmaster speech. The first phrase had already captured his audience's attention and drove everyone into the humorous mood for the supposedly formal ceremony. "Professor Dumbledore had said that I could say absolutely anything I want for this speech." He turned and nodded at Professor Dumbledore who gave him one of his familiar winks behind his half-moon spectacles.

"Like all other speeches, it had to begin with thanking others. First and foremost, I would like to thank my parents, for giving birth to me." Everyone in the Great Hall applauded loudly. Mrs. Helen Potter was beaming at him from the audience, feeling very proud of his son indeed, and looking slightly teary. "Second to them would be my girlfriend, Lily Evans, the Head Girl who had been suffering for the entire year working with me." Among the audience, Lily could be seen blushing away when everyone turned to take a look at the girl James Potter mentioned.

"What about me??" Sirius, who was sitting a few seats away from Lily, called out. The attention of the audience switched over almost immediately.

"Yeah, have you forgotten about us??" Remus added loudly. He was sitting many seats away from Sirius, at James' right. The seventh-years were all arranged in alphabetical order, so the Marauders were all seated slightly away from one another.

"Besides Lily, of course there's the Mr. Sirius Hunk Black over there." James pointed at Sirius' direction to his left. Sirius' fans all cheered loudly among all the student audience who were seated behind the parents and seventh-years. Some of those behind even stood on the benches while cheering, hoping to catch a glimpse of the Marauders from their seats.

"Thank you. Thank you." Sirius stood up and waved at everyone cheering from the back.

"And there's the Mr. Remus Brainy Lupin over there." Remus acknowledged the comment with a modest wave without the slightest idea of standing up.

"Not forgetting Mr. Peter Nice Pettigrew as well." Most of the audience gave loud polite applause while some Marauders' fans continued to cheer and scream from the back.

"Alright, don't get too overwhelmed by their names." The audience gave a soft laugh in response to his comment. "How can I forget our beloved teachers who taught us all that we need to know and more than what we need to know??" James bowed slightly at the row of Hogwarts staffs that were seated at one side of the Hall. "Professor Dumbledore, ever so wise and knowledgeable." Most of the students clapped at the mention of their Headmaster. "Then there is the so understanding and forgiving Professor McGonagall. I meant it, you know. Beneath that strict and stern exterior, there's a kind and loving Gryffindor spirit in her." All the Gryffindors clapped loudly and cheered. "Hogwarts can never do without our patient Professor Flitwick, interesting Professor Sprout, student-loving Professor Porky, intelligent Professor Plains, forever-explaining Professor Binns, cheerful Professor Hooch, animal-lover Professor Kettleburn, mind-baffling Professor Trelawney, mystical Professor Sinistra and kind Professor Vector." All the students cheered for their favorite teachers as James mentioned their names.

"No, no, I'm not done yet. Hogwarts can never be the same without our most wonderful Hagrid." Most of the students cheered loudly for their gamekeeper. "And there is the one who kept everything in order and that's our caretaker Filch." Filch was glaring at the students as always but for the first time, a tiny smile could be detected in his fierce scrutinizing expression. Most of the students gave a polite but short applause for their eccentric caretaker nevertheless.

"Alright, I think I have held the limelight long enough, I shall hand it back to our most beloved Professor McGonagall." James initiated a round of applause as Professor McGonagall walked towards the center of the stage.

"Thank you, Mr. Potter. That was an impressive speech I must say." Professor McGonagall clapped along with the rest of the audience. "Now we shall have Professor Dumbledore here to bestow you with the Graudation Hat. I'll call up the name and you shall come up to the stage to collect it." She started off with the name Eva Andrews and the list went on.

"Next to the list is Mr. Sirius Black from Gryffindor." Professor McGonagall called out. Sirius walked up the stage proudly, waving to his avid fans that were screaming and shouting from the back of the hall.

"Congrats. Hogwarts is not going to be the same again." Professor Dumbledore said in a low voice as he placed the Graduation Hat on Sirius.

"We should give Sirius the credits for bringing Hogwarts endless joys and laughter throughout the last seven years. A multi-talented student who managed to keep his grades up and at the same time being one of the best Beaters from Gryffindor." The Graduation Hat said before it shut itself up and looking like any other normal wizard hat besides having the Hogwarts Crest in front.

"To be able to look at everyone this angle is so cool, you guys gotta come up and take a look some day." Sirius called out, mainly targeted to the younger students who were sitting at the back of the Hall behind all the seventh-years. He bowed and then walked away from the stage and back to his own empty seat, which had magically moved to the back.

All the front seats for the seventh-years were charmed such that after the student went up to collect their Graduation Hat, the seat would move one step to the right so the next student would go straight up to the stage without much hassle. So when the student upon collection of his or her Graduation Hat would be sitting a few rows to the back.

"Thank you, Mr. Black, next we shall have Miss Stefanie Black from Gryffindor." Professor McGonagall spoke up from the right side of the stage. Stefanie got up from her seat and went up the stage; feeling excited but yet could move with such elegant poise.

"Congrats, will be seeing more of you in the future." Professor Dumbledore nodded and placed the Graduation Hat on Stefanie's head.

"One of the best behaved students in Hogwarts, a model student indeed. With traits of an angel on earth, brains of a genius, a lady that everyone loves to befriend. Not just a model student academically, Stefanie's virtues would be one that everyone should learn from." The Graduation Hat compliments sent blushes up to Stefanie's cheeks. After a charming smile and a bow, she walked down the stage, beaming and blushing at the same time.

"That's a good one." Sirius told Stefanie as she sat down beside him once again.

"For the first time, it feels so strange to have everyone looking at me suddenly." Stefanie admitted, still blushing slightly.

"At least the Graduation Hat is being honest."

"Perhaps it's the compliments the Hat gave that made me flush."

The next student, Jun Chang, from Ravenclaw upon receiving her Graduation Hat had sat down beside her. The seats had moved so magically and unknowingly that no one actually felt the movement below.

"Congrats." Stefanie turned to Jun on her left and stroked up a conversation.

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"Congrats." Lily smiled at Peppers, who was from Ravenclaw and was sitting on her right, walked up the stage confidently. The seats moved right magically and she was the next in line.

"Miss Lily Evans from Gryffindor."

_Woah, scary. _Lily stood up and walked as confidently and as gracefully as she could up the stage. _Calm down. _She gave Professor McGonagall an appreciative smile as she walked towards the center where Professor Dumbldore was standing with her Graduation Hat.

"Well done, Lily. Congratulations." Professor Dumbledore smiled and placed the Hat on her.

"Thank you, Professor." Lily said gratefully. Almost at once, the Graduation Hat started speaking when she turned to face the audience.

"No one would have done a better Head Girl's job than Lily herself. A representation of Hogwarts student with a strong sense of responsibility, she is one student who made achievements not only academically but also in all other aspects." The Graduation Hat announced. Lily could feel her face starting to burn. She gave a bow and walked down the stage and back to her seat beside Peppers.

"Thank you, Miss Evans. Next is Miss Joey Johnson from Gryffindor." Lily clapped for her friend and roommate and smiled at Joey as they exchanged a brief eye contact from the two ends of the stage.__

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_Well done, Lily. _James applauded loudly for his girlfriend, watching her closely from the moment she went up the stage to the time she left. _I'm so proud of her._

"James, you can come out of your daydreaming session now." Samantha elbowed James who was sitting on her left.

"What??" James frowned.

"Peter has been calling you for three times already." Samantha pointed at Peter who was sitting on her right.

"What is it??" James bent forward and asked.

"Actually I wanted to ask you what are you going to say later when you're going up. But never mind, forget it." Peter said, looking slightly nervous.

"Oh, just be yourself and say what you want." James assured Peter. "When you're up there, you just know what to do."

"Thank you, Miss Lim. Next we have Mr. Remus Lupin from Gryffindor." Mabel from Ravenclaw exited from the left side of stage while Remus walked up from the right side.

"It's Remus' turn." Samantha commented.

"We've noticed that." James replied. All three of them applauded loudly for their friend and fellow Gryffindor. Remus walked up towards Professor Dumbledore who put the Hat on his head.

"A talented student in many aspects, a student who is a friend to all, one who lives up the to the Gryffindor spirit are just some of the descriptions for Remus. A bright student with a big heart is a model student for all to learn from." Remus beamed to the Hat's commentaries. He gave a big smile, a bow and waved before exiting from the stage. Needless to say, most of the Marauders' fans and those who idolized him gave a standing ovation from the back of the hall.

"Next we have Mr. Peter Pettigrew from Gryffindor." Professor McGonagall announced after several students from Hufflepuff and Slytherin.

Peter went up the stage quickly and feeling excitedly and jittery at the same time. He received his Hat from Professor Dumbledore that gave a nice brief speech about him before he proceeded down at the other end.

"Thank you, Mr. Pettigrew. Next we have Miss Samantha Philips from Gryffindor." Everyone gave a round of applause as Samantha went up the stage. She received her hat and as usual, it gave a brilliant speech on Samantha before she bowed and walked down from the other end.

"Thank you Miss Philips, next we shall have Mr. James Potter from Gryffindor up here again." The applause from the audience was the loudest of all between the other graduating seventh-years.

James walked up confidently, acknowledging Professor McGonagall and turned back to the audience and gave a quick smile to Lily who was watching him from where she was seated. From the back, there were whistles, screams and shouts until he reached Professor Dumbledore.

"Never had a better student before." Professor Dumbledore smiled and looked intently at James while placing the Graduation Hat on his head.

"Thank you, Professor." James said gratefully. He then turned back to the audience waiting for the speech from the top of his head.

"One of the best Head Boy in history of Hogwarts, responsible and full of drive. Good academic records, active quidditch team player, lives up to the Gryffindor spirit. A very talented young man who will do great things in the years to come." James beamed and gave his best smile as he bowed and left the stage as confidently as he walked up earlier. _What a feeling._


	116. Party The Night Away

**Chapter 115: Party The Night Away**

"It's party time!!" Sirius shouted the moment the Marauders entered the Gryffindor common room, looking kind of messed up. Everyone turned to check out what was happening.

"What party??" Lily looked up and asked first. The group of girls was chatting with some fifth and sixth-years. In fact most of the students were just hanging out and lazing around in the common room before returning home the next day. It was just that afternoon that the seventh-years had just been officially graduated from Hogwarts and followed by their dinner as celebration.

"The Party-of-the-century." James grinned as he announced. The Marauders had declared many impromptu parties over the years and it was no surprise that they did it again.

"What's going on??" Lily stepped forward to ask James.

"We're going to have an outdoor party. This time we're going to invite the Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs. And we made it impossible for the Slytherins to sabotage. I explain to you next time, but just gather the rest of the girls and remind them to bring along a windbreaker and scarf or something. It will be cold." James told Lily apart from the rest of the Gryffindors. He had the windbreaker that he received from the girls for his previous birthday tied around his waist. "I'll get you another of mine since you don't have any decent windbreaker."

"Okay, I'll inform the other girls." Lily shot a quizzical look but nevertheless still left the common room and headed towards the girls' dormitory.

"I'll get the guys." James told Sirius and he left for the boys' dormitory.

"So all of you go get your windbreakers before we leave for the party." Remus told everyone in the common room. All of them left for their respective dormitories excitedly. "Consider that done." Remus told Sirius as he showed the thumb-up sign.

"We're ready!!" Alex and Ted came rushing down with three other first-years, all of them having their windbreakers in their hands.

"You guys are really fast, but we've gotta wait for everyone." Before Sirius completed his sentence, another three groups of students came down to join them. Within ten minutes, nearly most of the Gryffindors were crowding around the common room murmuring excitedly.

"Sonorus." Remus said. "Is everyone here??"

"Yeah!!"

"You bet!!"

"All of you have your windbreakers with you??" Everyone held out his or hers respectively.

"Yeah!!"

"Why do we need the windbreakers for??"

"Let's hit the dance floor." Sirius called out and the fifty over students exited the Gryffindor tower. "You'll find the need of it soon enough."

"What's going to happen??" Lily caught up with James who stood out from the crowd due to his height, holding an addition piece of clothing. She tied James' blue Nike windbreaker around her waist as she asked.

"You'll see." James grinned mischievously. "Just keep yourself warm later on." He patted Lily's head as if she was a little child.

"Let's hit for the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff." Sirius joined Lily and James who were behind the group. Remus and Peter were still in front leading the Gryffindors to their party location.

"Seriously, why do we need a windbreaker?? It's summertime." Lily gave a puzzled look while twiddling the loose ends of the sleeves.

"You'll see later. Just keep it tight." James tightened the windbreaker around Lily's waist that made her squirmed a little. "Do you want to join them or come with us to the Ravenclaw tower??"

"I'll join you guys. I can't find the rest of them anyway." Lily stood tiptoed and looked ahead at the large group of Gryffindors for her roommates.

"Alright, we're turning this way." James and Sirius went the opposite way from the others.

"This is so confusing, how do you guys know where's where??"

"We've learnt the whole castle by heart."

"There we go." Sirius exclaimed and said the password to Ravenclaw tower.

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"Is there something I should know regarding this??" Stefanie asked Remus as she held up her white Addidas windbreaker.

"You'll know soon enough. It's the Marauders' surprise." Remus winked. The two of them were walking hand-in-hand leading the group of younger Gryffindors outdoors.

"Hold it!!" The students stopped in their tracks suddenly.

"Hello, Mr. Filch. How nice to see you." Remus said politely, and the tone of voice definitely infuriated the caretaker.

"What do you think you all are doing?? Creating a riot??" Argus Filch said in his most unfriendly tone. In his opinion, having such a big group of students together was definitely a bad idea.

"We're going outdoors." Remus answered as a matter-of-fact.

"What are you all planning to do?? Look like I've to get all of you for detentions." Filch was eyeing the Gryffindors with an intimidating glare. Some of the first and second-years backed off slightly out of fear.

"Mr. Filch, I don't think any students should be given detention now that we're already into the holidays. I'm pretty sure our last official schooling day was last Friday." Remus winked at the students while Filch's back was facing him. "Another thing is that now is only eight-thirty in the evening, we still have at least an hour before curfew. But then again, we're having holidays now, so there won't be any curfews at all." The caretaker was speechless, even his cat, Mrs. Norris, and was not making any sound. "Gryffindors, let's move on." With that, Remus led the whole group down the moving staircases, toward the Entrance leaving Filch stood rooted at his previous location.

"That was great!!" The Gryffindors clapped and cheered for Remus' cool move.

"AAAHHH!!" Some of the students behind started shrieking. The seventh-years who were right in front turned back. Apparently Peeves the poltergeist was floating upside-down in mid-air and dropping some sort of soft rubbery stuffs at the group of Gryffindors. It seemed like he was enjoying himself and followed the students as they tried to duck away.

"Stop that!!"

"I'd stop doing that if I were you, Peevey." Remus said pleasantly. "You never know what can happen to them." Obviously Peeves could not be bothered with Remus and he started throwing more of them down.

"_Waddiwasi_." The soft rubbery stuffs on the floor shot up and hit straight at Peeves from all directions and sent him flying up a few floors.

"AAARRRRGGGGGHHHHHHH!!" Peeves' retreating voice could be hurt as he shot upwards.

"Bravo!!"

"Cool!!" The Gryffindors clapped and cheered at Remus again, but this time was for pissing Peeves off.

"The incantation is _Waddiwasi_. Mainly used to direct a soft mass from one location to the next." Remus told the group. "Actually I'm still attempting to aim stuffs into his nostrils, but as you all can see, it isn't very successful even after seven years of training." The Gryffindors looked at him with even greater respect and admiration while laughing at his little joke. "Alright, let's move on."

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"Yes, over there. That way." James pointed at the group of students who appeared to be dancing away near the lake. The loud music could be heard all the way from the Entrance Hall.

"Cool." The Hufflepuffs literally ran all the way towards the party point. Sirius had directed the Ravenclaws there first while Lily and James went to inform the Hufflepuffs.

"Now for the excitement." James told Lily.

"What excitement??" Lily tilted her head and gave James a cheeky look; her emerald green eyes sparkled with mischief. James stood at the Entrance Hall steps and faced the castle and he seemed to be reaching out for something in his pocket.

"This." James held out a piece of folded parchment. Upon unfolding, the words written on it looked like an extremely long incantation of many advanced charms and spells.

"What's this for??" Lily read and frowned slightly. "I don't understand. This point number three is for wind to cool a room," Lily pointed at the third paragraph on the parchment. "But this part is for heat, in the dungeons corridors??"

"Let me do the work first. Don't disturb me until I completed the whole thing alright??" James told Lily in a slightly solemn tone that was not even used during the actual serious matters. He pointed at the castle with his wand. Although he could perform wandless magic, it was not safe to display anything outside especially when nearly all three houses were present, regardless if they were watching him. He looked at his parchment; said a paragraph of incantation in a clear voice, and looked at the parchment again for the next instruction. After repeating the same thing for more than ten times, and having many different colors of sparks shooting out from his wand, he put down his wand and kept it in his Levis jeans back pocket.

"Okay, so what was that??" Lily asked since she did not see any significant changes in the castle entrance or anywhere else.

"Let's move and take a closer look." James gave his lopsided grin and took Lily's hand as he led her back to the castle.

"It-it's snowing?!" Lily asked in surprised.

"Phew. I'm glad I did it correctly." James told her. "See, now this windbreaker comes in a handy." He tugged the windbreaker that was tied on Lily's waist.

"Cool. Shall we get indoors and explore?? It's a strange phenomenon to snow indoors even though Dumbledore charmed the ceiling to snow, it never did."

"And that's why we're doing it for real." James grinned mischievously.

"Cool." Lily ran slightly into the snowy corridors. "How long is this _weather_ going to last??"

"We estimated it could last for at least three days. But the effects will wear off slowly after one day. But the good thing is that if anyone attempt to use magic to reverse the effects, it will get worst."

"So if I use some reversal spells on this snowy weather, it will get colder. And if I do it over there, it will get hotter." Lily pointed at the corridor leading towards the dungeons. It looked a little similar to the famous Sahara Desert, and it definitely looked scorching from afar. "Why do I detect that you guys are attempting to roast the Slytherins??"

"We would love to!! Trust me. It would be wonderful if that happens." James joked. "But honestly, the idea of eating a roasted Snape doesn't do good with most people appetites."

"Yeah, along with a grilled Goyle and country-baked Crabbe." Lily chirped in. "And the – hmm - mashed Malfoy potato. They definitely don't sound good." A thick layer of snow had covered the steps until it looked like a slope instead of staircases.

"I can't agree with you more." James took Lily's hand and led her up several flights of snow-covered steps. It seemed like the moving staircases had frozen along with the weather, having many icicles dangling from the edges.

"This scene looks quite spectacular." Lily leaned against the edge of the rails to look at the many flights of snow-covered aligned staircases.

"Let's go upstairs." James took Lily's hand again and led her up another flight of steps or perhaps slopes.

"Why are we going up for??"

"To warm yourself. Do you know that the temperature in here is zero degrees Celsius?? Or even lower than that."

"I can feel that." Lily rubbed her hands together to generate some heat. Luckily she was wearing track shoes; otherwise her feet would be frozen from all the walking on snow.

"Now it's time for some fun." James conjured something that looked remotely like a sleigh, just a flat piece of wood with a handle in front and on both sides.

"Oh, no!! No!! No!!" Lily retreated backwards as James moved forwards to grab her.

"This is going to be so fun." James said enthusiastically.

"You're so not going to make me get onto that thing." Lily stared at the dangerously simple-looking sled.

"Well, you don't have much choice." James carried the struggling Lily easily and placed her in front while he sat protectively behind her. "I won't let you fall, I promise." He wrapped his right hand around Lily waist affectionately while using his left hand to support both of them.

"No!! No!! No!! I don't like this." Lily muttered and kept her eyes shut tightly as she sat cross-legged in front of James. Both her hands were gripping tightly at the handle in front of her.

"Okay, there we go." James shouted and with a jerk, the sleigh slid down the snow-covered staircases at high speed.

"AAAAAHHHHHHH!!" Lily screamed at the top of her lungs.

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"You can't be serious!!" Stefanie commented in astonishment, eyeing the realistic-looking snow falling in front of her. "This?!"

"Well, then what did you think you're looking at??" Remus laughed. "Television??"

"N-no. But how did you guys managed to do this for real?? Not to mention that it's all over the entire castle!!" Stefanie shook her head in disbelief. "Brrr.. it's freezing here." She zipped up her white windbreaker and kept her hands in the front pockets for some warmth.

"Anyway, it's done and up. So let's have some fun." Remus suggested with a naughty look plastered on his face. He was leading the way up the flights of steps, which had become mild slopes with all the snowing throughout the last hour or so.

"We can use the broom to fly upstairs or something. Where're you going to take me to??" Stefanie paced up to catch up with Remus.

"If we fly up, it's going to be even colder with the wind against us. By jogging up, we're generating heat in our body so we won't feel that cold." Remus continued to jog slowly up the slope as he spoke, slowing down once in awhile to wait for Stefanie.

"That's a good point. But I'm just not prepared for a snowy weather." Stefanie lifted up her legs as she strode across some thick layer of snow-infested steps. "Thank goodness I'm not wearing heels or slippers. My sneakers are freezing and so totally soaked."

"Imagine this weather continue to snow. You'll be hidden inside in no time." Remus pulled Stefanie as she struggled to get out from a large pile of snow.

"Thanks for reminding me about my height."

"Well, short is good."

"Ahem."

"Petite women are the most gorgeous ladies around." Stefanie laughed at Remus' exaggerated comment.

"Why did I feel like it's getting colder?? The wind seems to get stronger and snow even harder." Stefanie looked up at the snowflakes showered on them.

"Someone out there must be attempting to reverse the effects or trying to get rid of it."

"Are we going back to the tower?? Is it going to be cold inside??" Stefanie jumped around a little to produce some body heat.

"We're going back to the tower to get some warmer clothes for us first. Then we shall have some fun upstairs." After another few flights of steps, they were at the entrance of Gryffindor tower.

"Dungiebombers. Where??" James had insisted on creating a rare word for password so that it's easy to remember but yet could get confusing for some.

"Say Astronomy Tower??"

"Say that again." Stefanie threatened in a joking manner.

"Astro – ahh." Stefanie stuffed a newly conjured cushion into Remus' mouth as she dashed into the warm Gryffindor common room.


	117. The Final Journey Home

**Chapter 116: The Final Journey Home **

"It's going to be so weird waking up in the morning and realizing that I'm not in Gryffindor tower." Lily commented. It was morning and all students were supposed to return home for their vacation while the graduates would be officially out of Hogwarts. The girls had their breakfast and returned to hang out at their dormitory since that was the warmest place in the castle.

"Yeah, I'm going to miss this feeling too. It's just so strange not staying together." Stefanie added, sitting on one of the chairs.

"Don't forget our gathering next month. Keep us informed." Joey reminded who remained lying on her bed.

"No worries, I'll send you an owl everyday for a month before that gathering." Stefanie joked.

"Well, keep it to a week. I don't think I can handle owls on a daily basis even though I had used it nearly all my life." Samantha remarked as she stretched in her bed.

"The thought of leaving Hogwarts is so sad that it might just bring tears to me." Lily looked up at the ceiling. "How about we engrave our names somewhere in here like what we used to do??"

"Sure. But this time, where??" Joey looked at the bed across her.

"How about along the side of the door??" Lily jumped out of her bed and opened the door of their dormitory, pointing at the wall next to it.

"Sounds good to me." Stefanie agreed and went forward.

"Okay, you first??" Lily pointed at the top of the wall.

"What an irony. I'm the shortest but my name is the highest." Stefanie laughed and continued writing her name vertically.

"Stef Black. Hmm.. Sound good." Lily wrote her name as 'Lils Evans'. "Put the pet name we gave each other."

"What pet name?? Did we ever give each other any pet names to start with??" Samantha laughed and went forward for her turn. "Oh, you mean this. Alright, I put as Sam." With that, she wrote 'Sam Phillips' on the wall.

"Then I think I'll put Joe Johnson." Joey wrote down her name after Samantha. "This looks good, huh. And now the charm for permanency."

"Yeah." The three other girls nodded their head in agreement.

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"Imagine the chaos." Sirius laughed. The Marauders were back in the dormitory doing some last minute planning for their little prank in the train later on. The four guys were lazing around in the warmth dormitory room after a hearty breakfast in the cold Hall earlier on.

"Yeah, everyone will be walking with their wand." James, who was resting in the comfort of his bed, pointed out. "They are not dumb, alright."

"I'm sure there are some dumbos around. The cold out there must have frozen some brains overnight." Remus added, sitting by the edge of his bed, spinning his wand. It was still snowing rather severely as some other seventh-years had attempted to stop the weather, but rather unsuccessfully of course, as it had just gotten colder that morning. Most of people in the paintings were frozen except the Fat Lady of Gryffindor. Remus had kindly cast the Warming Charm on her when he was at the Gryffindor entrance the night before.

"What about their emergency back-up?? We've to get it disrupted as well." James added while he attempted to do some flutter kicks.

"This must be one of the simplest plan we ever done this year." Sirius shook his head, lying on his stomach while his hands support his face. "Imagine the standard."

"The simplest things must just be the best things in life." Remus pointed out.

"Then I must be really grateful to the person who invented candles." James pointed his wand at the candle near his bed and ignited it with his wand.

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"AHH!!" Joey jumped.

"Woah!! What happened??" Lily got a shocked with the sudden darkness.

"I bet it must be those guys up to something." Stefanie said calmly.

"Jeez, _lumos_." Samantha took out her wand and ignited it. Lily, Stefanie and Joey followed suit, afterall, that was the normal thing to do when witches got caught in darkness.

"AAAHHHHH!!"

"I didn't see that coming though." Stefanie admitted. "I knew they were up to something but not this."

"OOUCHH!!"

"I think as a Head Girl, I should get out there and do something about it." Lily stood up, intended to walk out of their cabin.

"Waaahh!!"

"We had already graduated. So theoretically, there's no Head Girl from Hogwarts at this point of time." Stefanie joked.

"Heellppp!!"

"I think we better do something. It seems rather chaotic out there." Joey stood out and followed Lily out, with her wand lit up in front of her.

"I don't remember Hogwarts Express being so dark before. The glass windows are _opaque_!!" Samantha pressed her face against the supposedly transparent glass windows at the corridor.

"Sam and I go this way." Stefanie pointed to her left. "You two go the other way." She pointed with her wand. "How's that??"

"Heeelppp!!" Some girl's voice echoed along the Hogwarts Express corridor.

"Sounds like something is wrong." Lily frowned and walked briskly at the opposite direction from Stefanie and Samantha. "Let's go."

"Okay." Joey followed closely behind, looking into the passing cabins through the glass panel. "At least most of the students knew about _lumos_." Most of the students had their wands lit out and resuming their conversation before the blackout occurred, ignoring the chaos from the other cabins.

"Hey, you okay??" Lily and Joey helped a first-year up.

"Yeah, thanks." The first-year muttered an embarrassed 'thanks', avoiding eye contact with the two girls.

"Were we that shy a few years back??" Lily asked in amazement.

"I guess so. At least when I was in first-year, I didn't talk to the seventh-years before." Joey admitted.

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"Why are you girls loitering around in the darkness??" Remus asked as Stefanie and Samantha approached them.

"Just as I expected." Stefanie shook her head. "Who else could have done this??"

"None other than the invincible Marauders." Sirius boasted.

"Make that invisible." Stefanie joked. "Anyway we heard someone calling for help earlier on."

"Settled. Just Malfoy and his dogs bullying some younger kid." James shrugged it off. "They had their retribution anyway."

"What did you guys do this time??" Samantha asked curiously.

"Nothing much actually. We just body-bind them and made them float around uncontrollably. Nothing serious, really." Sirius said nonchalantly.

"Okay, if you said that wasn't serious enough. They must have been knocking here and there." Samantha shook his head, laughing at the thought of four seventh-years Slytherins floating around the dark train, probably crashing into other students but yet could not do anything.

"Where are Lily and Joey?? I thought you girls were together??" James asked, noticing Lily's absence.

"They went the opposite direction from us. Anyway how long is this blackout going to last??" Samantha asked again. More and more students emerged from their cabins as time passed. It seemed romantic to walk along the wand light.

"There you are, I was wondering where were you." Yann walked towards the group. "This must be done by you guys." He grinned at the Marauders.

"That's right." Sirius admitted. "You two can get romantic at the same time. Can kill two birds with one stone." The group laughed at his joke.

"Well, since you spoke my thoughts, shall we??" Yann asked jokingly and earned a gentle slap from Samantha, who was laughing along with the rest.

"There isn't a need to show public display of affection, ya know?? We all know about you two." James teased the lovey-dovey couple.

"Alright, we make a move first." Yann directed Samantha back to his cabin, laughing along with them though they were the objects of their teasing.

"Yeah, it's about time you go find your missing Lily." Sirius taunted.

"She can take care of herself, I'm sure of that." James assured. "I don't need to be by her side to protect her every minute of the day."

"I agree with James with this. Lily is one of the toughest girl around." Stefanie nodded. "I think we can head back to our cabin. I don't think you guys actually had any yet, am I right??"

"No one knows us any better than you do." Remus said lovingly, placing his protective arm around Stefanie's shoulders.

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"Where's Sam??" Lily asked as she entered the cabin, which was now filled with the Marauders. She took a seat beside James while Joey sat opposite her.

"Left shagging with Yann." James joked.

"You can't be serious." Joey asked in amusement.

"Never been more serious." Sirius claimed. "You can ask Stef." He pointed to Stefanie.

"No comments on that." Stefanie grinned broadly.

"Oh, well." The group laughed.

"So where did you girls went just now??" James asked.

"Just made a trip to the end of the train and back." Lily answered truthfully.

"And met a handful of first and second-years who kinda freaked out due to the blackout." Joey added. All seven wands lit up the dark cabin with a faint bluish glow.

"And we reminded them to use this charm." Lily lifted her wand up to face level.

"Can anyone actually forget this??" James asked in disbelief as he looked as he lit-up wand.

"You bet."

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"Ahh. Finally." Lily took a deep breath of the air at platform nine and three-quarters as she alighted from the train.

"Woah, it's so bright here." James squinted and blinked several times to adjust his eyes to the new light as he followed closely behind. At least he was not the only one who did that. Muttering a charm, he conjured his spectacles into a pair of cool-looking shades.

"Shall we get something to eat??" Sirius asked once all seven of them alighted and crowded near to one of the pillars near to the exit. As it was pitch-black in the train throughout the whole journey, the food cart never appeared.

"I'll make a move first." Joey excused herself. "See ya next month, bye everyone."

"See ya." Lily and Stefanie gave her a quick hug before she went towards the direction where her mother stood, beaming at her daughter in pride.

"Bye."

"Let's get out of her and apparate back to the manor." James suggested. The group of them moved swiftly and fairly easily through the crowd towards the exit out of platform nine and three-quarters.

"Apparating with this trunk isn't the most ideal thing to do." Lily spoke out while following closely behind James who was paving out the way for her.

"At least it beats flooing with it." Stefanie stated positively.

"I agree with that. I don't even want to try that again." Remus used to floo around with some large luggage in the past and somehow or rather they would end up crashing out together. "I rather go with the broom, or at least the car."

"Alright, this is a good spot." Sirius said as the six of them stood at an inconspicuous corner at King Cross Station.

"Alright, let's gather at my place an hour from now for dinner. Wormtail, will you be coming??" James asked.

"Yeah, I guess I can convince my dad." Peter muttered audibly, looking away.

"Let's go." Stefanie held her trunk and nodded to Lily.

"See you guys later."

"I'm going the same direction with you two." Before Sirius completed his sentence, Lily and Stefanie disappeared after two consecutive 'pops'.

"Don't be late." Remus cracked an old joke before apparating back to his house.

"Bye." With that, Peter apparated away.

"That's left us."

"What are we waiting for anyway??" Within a second, both guys 'popped' home.

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"It's going to be fun staying together." Stefanie commented as both girls unpacked their luggage full of clothes and other stuffs.

"Yeah, I feel really comforted to have friends like you girls." Lily took out all her clothes and hung it up magically at one of Stefanie's walk-in wardrobes.

"We should get Belle to join us." Stefanie said, taking out her toiletries and placing them up at their usual positions in her bathroom.

"I wonder how she is doing. I think she knew that we would be back today." Lily looked up. "We owled her last week about it."

"But she didn't reply to our last letter. I wonder what happened."

"She said that she was quite busy with the orphanage and stuffs currently, perhaps she can join us here soon."

"Let's hope so. I certainly miss her."

"Me too. Are you going to shower??" Lily asked.

"Don't think so, otherwise we definitely won't make it at James' place in an hour time."

"Talk about two girls showering." Stefanie shot Lily a look. "Not together of course."

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"Cheers!!" The six goblets clinked together. The group were just starting on their scrumptious dinner of International cuisine prepared by James' house elves.

"It had been so long since I last seen all of you. Oh my, you kids had grown so big already." Arabella joked. The irony was the fact that she was actually the youngest member among the group.

"Words can't describe how much we missed you." Lily said truthfully, giving Arabella a shaking side hug, nearly choking her as she attempted to put a slice of potato wedge into her mouth.

"I can describe how much we miss you using words. In simple words, we missed your company." Sirius said in between swallowing of food. Everyone looked up at stared at Sirius' outright confession. "What??"

"Nothing." Stefanie could not hide a giggle as she attempted to stop it by stuffing food into her mouth. The others managed to prevent a laughing spree by shoving food in as well. Arabella's face turned a deep shade of pink but remained silent nevertheless.

"Fine." Sirius continued munching his food, totally nonchalant about his friends' sudden weird behavior.

"Anyway how's life over at the orphanage??" James changed a new topic, while helping himself with a second helping of noodles.

"The usual. Younger kids come and older kids go. A few others like myself stayed and just take care of the whole place."

"Did Professor Plains visit you or something??" Lily asked, looking up from her steak.

"Not very often, the last time I saw her was about two months back. But we did owl each other regularly, like once or twice a week."

"That's really nice." Stefanie nodded. "I'm sure you two miss each other."

"Yeah, kind of." Arabella said with a distant look in her eyes with her fork still in her mouth.

"So shall we do some muggle stuffs later on??" Remus suggested, emptying the last few pieces of sushi and gyoza in front of him.

"Cool. What do you suggest??" Sirius agreed enthusiastically.

"Shall we catch a movie??" Lily suggested. "I think there's a show Charlie's Angels or something screening now."

"Or perhaps we could go to one of those carnivals downtown??" James gave another suggestion. "You know, those with thrilling upside-down rides and banging cars."

"Maybe we should hang out at those café or something??" Arabella added. "There are some nice place that serves great finger food and coffee around lately."

"Are we talking about nice food??" Sirius chipped in. "I need more nourishing food considering I'm still a growing man."

"The definition of man, for your information, is a grown up _boy_." The others laughed at Remus' teasing comment.

"We can definitely go somewhere that serve nice, good food." Sirius ignored Remus' statement. "And coffee as well."

"Didn't we just finished lunch, or was I hallucinating??" Lily added jokingly.

"You meant to say dinner, right??" Stefanie corrected.

"Oh yeah, we have been eating so much that I forgotten what meal we are having now."


	118. Job Hunting

**Chapter 117: Job Hunting**

"It's about time we look for a job." Lily said out of the blue. The two girls had just returned from the Potters' Manor after a game of Quidditch. It had been almost two weeks ever since they returned from Hogwarts upon graduation.

"Time certainly passes very fast when we're having fun." Stefanie commented. For the last two weeks, the group of young adults had been enjoying life to the maximum, with a quidditch game daily, movies, dining out, clubbing, and even the boys had attempted to learn to play some muggle sports like basketball and soccer, and shopping for the three girls. It was as if there was nothing to care about except having fun, even the thought of defeating Voldemort was out of their minds in the last few days.

"Yeah, and reality is about to hit us. It's a matter of time." Lily accioed her towel and a fresh set on clothes and underwear and headed into the bathroom.

"Let's talk after shower." Stefanie sat by her desk and started writing a short note to Arabella.

_Dear Bell,_

_Let's meet up for dinner tonight. My place. The boys are out for their all boys outing later._

_Stef and Lils._

"Writing to Bell?? Or Remus??" Lily teased as she toweled-dry her long auburn hair.

"Bell, of course. Why do I want to write to Remus when the last time I saw him was less than an hour ago??" Stefanie tied the parchment onto Tinklebell's leg. "For Arabella." Lily's owl flew out of the window and disappeared.

"That's difficult to say." Lily replied, brushing through her damp hair.

"Anyway I asked Bell if she would like to join us at dinner here tonight, just wait for her reply." With that, Stefanie disappeared into her bathroom.

_Hmm.. what would be the job I want to work?? Auror?? Healer?? Or something totally different?? Will I be fit enough to pass the Auror's tests?? Physically demanding and long working hours. Or perhaps healer, I can heal people easier. It will be an easy job for me. Just brush up some of my skills. There's probably more than just that. Money will be a problem. I know Stef don't mind me staying with her and all, but I can't stay here forever. I needed to have a stable income and I don't think any of those jobs pay as high as I want it to be. So where can I find… _Lily got out of her reverie as Tinklebell started poking her hand using her beak. "That's fast of you. Thank you so much." Lily patted her owl and untied the letter from Arabella. "Get some food out there. Bye." Tinklebell gave a friendly hoot and flew out of the window.

_Hey dearies,_

_No problem. Will be there around 7. Afterall I'm taking muggle public transport._

_Bell_

"Stef, Bell says she'll be here at about seven." Lily called out, trying to overpower the sound of running water.

"Ok, coming out soon." Stefanie's muffled reply was accompanied with running water.

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"Are you suggesting that we are not going to party??" Sirius asked in disbelief. The three guys were gathered inside James' bedroom, celebrating to the fact that it would be an all-guys night for a change. "It's difficult to get away from those girls and get some peace tonight and you guys are intending to stay in!! Have you two been brainwashed by them?!?"

"No, we haven't. Full moon is tomorrow night and I certainly need some rest and not through-the-night partying." Remus said in a tired tone, partially exhausted due to the fact that it was about twenty-four hours to full moon, and also after a four-hour long quidditch game with the girls earlier that afternoon.

"Alright, that's acceptable. Then what about you, Prongs??" Sirius demanded.

"I really need to have a long peaceful night sleep. We had been partying every single night ever since we left Hogwarts. Spare me tonight." James yawned loudly and lain back on his armchair, with his eyes closed, slowly drifting into dreamland.

"Prongs, I insist that you wake up this very minute." Sirius said loudly.

"Just shut up, if not I'm going to use magic on you." James, with his eyes closed, walked towards his king-sized bed and jumped into it.

"Damn, how could my two best friend do this to me??" Sirius sat down onto the armchair, which James was on previously and sulked.

"Padfoot, why don't you spend this time thinking about your future, your job, what are you going to do about your life??" Remus was practically murmuring, but Sirius caught what he said clearly.

"Yeah, might as well." Sirius mumbled to himself. "Then what about you??" He turned and saw Remus, dozing off soundly on another posh armchair. "Fine." _Think about my future. Jeez, I'm going to be auror. Fight baddies like Voldemort. Voldemort, I nearly forgot all about him!! And that bastard killed my mum!! I mean my aunt!! _He closed his eyes as his thoughts wandered around. _Yeah, auror and that's what I want to be._

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"Although the pay isn't that fantastic, at least it's really meaningful." Lily stated. The three girls were having their dinner together all by themselves. Mr. Black had stopped by to say hello before disappearing back to his den to continue his work, while no sign of Sirius had been spotted in the Black's Mansion.

"I agree. I think it's really suitable since you already have the gift of a healer. Besides I think Aurors are really physically demanding. I don't think I'm up to it even." Stefanie admitted. "At least you can be a healer, I can't think of any job that a telekinetic can do."

"I think you can be a fashion designer or image consultant or something like that. If not you can be a healer as well, this kind of skills can be trained." Arabella said encouragingly.

"I supposed so. Really confused and kind of lost. What about yourself??" Stefanie asked.

"I was thinking of being a teacher, but someone suggested that I should be a model, the muggle world model thing." Arabella confessed. "Though I don't think I'm anywhere near that good."

"Wow, I think you'll make a brilliant model." Lily was supportive. "You've got the height, the looks to kill, the figure other girls will die for, and your legs look gorgeous."

"If I don't know you well, I would think you're lesbian for studying me in that manner." Arabella joked.

"Lil's right about this." Stefanie agreed. "I think you'll make a great supermodel, just look at those around, you're definitely better than most of them."

"Thanks for the support. Being a model is not as simple as it sounds. Anyway teaching is a more feasible job for me." Arabella pointed out. "So how are you two going to hunt for a job??"

"You know when I was young, I wanted to be a journalist, or editor or writer, somewhere in that field. But after I know I was a witch, that little childhood ambition of mine kind of faded."

"You can write for the Daily Prophet, or Witch Weekly, or one of those mags around." Stefanie suggested.

"Freelancing sounds like a good idea but when it round down to income, that's not stable." Lily stated.

"I think I probably would find a job in the writing industry, or perhaps on the fashion side. Maybe I can flip through the Daily Prophet Classified Jobs this weekend to check out for any available jobs." Stefanie said. "Meanwhile, let's have a nice simple dinner." The three ladies continued their dinner with typical chat and gossip.

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"So what have you guys been up to last night??" Lily asked. The guys had popped by the Black's Mansion for lunch.

"Don't remind me about that." Sirius grumbled rather loudly. "I'm hungry." He went straight to the kitchens, all prepared for lunch.

"I don't know about those two. I was sleeping rather soundly, in fact I think peacefully is the word." James definitely looked more refreshed today than in the last few days.

"Yeah, how is that so??" Lily asked as she walked towards the kitchens.

"At least I woke up naturally this morning, unlike the last don't know how many days, I was at the near heart-attack stage." James placed both his hands on Lily's shoulders as he tagged along towards the dining hall. Ever since they were 'neighbors' after Graduation, Lily had always woke James up by jumping onto him, giving him the shock of his life.

"Stef always wake me up at those wee hours, like nine in the morning when the world is still sleeping." Lily defended. "So naturally we'll go and look for you guys afterwards."

"Hey, nine in the morning is not that early. At least most of the population does wake up at that time." Stefanie intervened.

"Nine is considered quite late. Our classes used to start at nine." Remus added in a tired manner. It was a full moon tonight and he was going to floo home after lunch to rest and prepare for his transformation in the night. "Anyway James is a infamous sound sleeper. First to sleep and last to wake."

"I'm still growing, I need my precious sleep." James yawned loudly.

"If you yawn any longer, who knows what is going to fly into that big mouth of yours." Lily pushed James' jaws up in attempt to shut his mouth.

"Lunch is served!!" Sirius called out from the dining hall.

"Let's go. The smell is making me hungry." James ushered Lily to walk faster. The two couples sat down at the two sides of the lengthy dining table while Sirius already settled for the middle seat.

"So what did you do last night??" Stefanie asked Sirius as she helped herself with a heap of mashed potatoes and brown sauce.

"I manted o mmm.. some vocal bwulb.." Sirius started, his mouth was full of food mixture.

"Don't talk with your mouth full, I can't catch a thing." Stefanie rolled her eyes at her brother.

"I was saying I wanted to go to some local club. But our James here wanted to sleep and Remus was too tired." Sirius complained. "And the worst thing of all was that I wasted my night sleeping on James' couch and not even on a normal bed!!" The rest laughed at Sirius' complaint, especially in the slight whiny tone he used.

"Anyway yesterday we were talking about looking for a job." Lily nodded at Stefanie.

"That's right. We had been having fun for some time. The world is waiting for us to do something." Stefanie added. "Isn't that's the reason why we are here together in the first place??"

"The reason why we're here is clearly to defeat Voldemort." James said in a bitter tone. Afterall Voldemort had killed his father a few years back, as well as Stefanie's mother.

"Yes, we have to do something soon, or else more will suffer." Sirius added acidly. Stefanie's mother, had been a mother to him for so many years, her death had affected the two of them equally much.

"But right now, we just have to make sure our powers are in full force, and be prepared for any emergency." Stefanie added. "But we won't know when the day will come. Sooner or later we'll have to work."

"I had already decided I want to be an auror, I will make a trip down to the Ministry to register." James decided.

"Don't ever thought of doing it without me." Sirius added. "Moony, are you alright??"

"Yeah, it's just the time of the month." Remus looked distinctively pale, as he always had been on the day of transformation. "I don't think I could be an auror, though I definitely don't mind giving that a try."

"We'll all be supporting you, whether you get the job or not." Stefanie touched his hand gently.

"Thanks. I know you all will be there." Remus smiled gratefully. "Actually I had spoke to Dumbledore regarding this matter, he said that if I don't get a job out there, he can offer me a position in Hogwarts."

"That's sounds really good. But with Voldemort lurking around, I think the Ministry will need all the manpower they can get." James said as a matter-of-fact. "It's not very optimistic to see that Deatheaters are targeting aurors one by one."

"But this will protect us, right??" Lily touched the pendant that she had worn for the last few years.

"Yes, it is supposed to be. But I don't know if it will have any resistance on the Unforgivable Curses." Stefanie said softly. Remus reached out for her hand.

"You know what, now that we're here in front of the wonderful food, let's not waste the house elves effort and feast on them. Talk after lunch." Sirius said with suddenly cheerfulness.

"Sure thing, these bolognas taste great." James agreed and helped himself with another serving. "We should go for a nap after lunch and prepare for tonight's rendezvous."

"What a word you use. It makes us sounds like either pimps or trans or gays or something of that sort." Sirius told him.

"Actually I think you guys can have the ability to look pretty." Lily added teasingly.

"Yeah, just imagine them with long flowing hair." Stefanie added.

"A few dash of make-up."

"Some nice long dresses." Stefanie said.

"Short dresses would be nice, if they shave their legs. They can show off their nice, long, slender and smooth _hair-less_ legs." Lily added. Both girls were laughing while the three guys gave the disgusted and horrified look.

"Then they wear those high stilettos or leather boots."

"And carry those teeny handbags."

"And sashay along the streets."

"I think that's enough. My appetite is disappearing." James winked his nose in disgust, at the thought of dressing like a girl.

"Mine had gone, in fact." Remus was barely eating as the two girls continued to talk and laugh at the expense of the three guys.

"That's not important enough to lose our appetite." Sirius was still eating away as though he had not heard the girls' conversation.

"I'm done." Lily put down her fork and spoon and wiped her mouth with her napkin and started drinking some sparkling orange juice off the goblet.

"So are you guys going back to rest now??" Stefanie asked, placing her arm over Remus supportively.

"I guess I better start making my way home." Remus stood up. "I'll see you tomorrow." He kissed Stefanie on her lips and lingered for a few seconds longer. "See you guys tonight."

"Bye."

"See you later."

"Take care." Remus went towards the fireplace, taking a handful of floo powder at the side and flooed back in a flash of green flames.

"You guys better get some rest as well. See you later for dinner." Lily told them.

"Don't start nagging." James pleaded and put his hands up in a surrendering manner.

"I'm not." Lily argued.

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"We'll be heading down to the Ministry today." James said. "To get an application for Auror training." It had been about a week since the last full moon and everything was back to normal.

"Well, do you think we should give auror a try as well?" Lily suggested. "They can reject us, at least we know we are not up to it."

"I still don't think you ladies can make it." Sirius pointed out. "It's better if you go for something less dangerous."

"I'm with Sirius for that. It's too dangerous. And it's really tough being an auror. At least let them go through it first and see how things go. But I'm sure it's going to be tough, and it is getting tougher with the happenings lately." Lily and Stefanie seemed to give Remus' words some thoughts.

"I think Rem has a point. Why don't we just wait for the next application? Perhaps if we go into different professions, we'll get more information about Voldemort than have all of us crowding around the Ministry." Stefanie said rationally.

"True, I guess. Well, then you guys can go get your application done soon." Lily shrugged. "It's fine with me."

"Yes, let's not delay any further!! We shall do it today!!" Sirius exclaimed.

"Sirius, we've already intended to go _today_." James rolled his eyes at the melodramatic Sirius.


	119. Auror Application

**Chapter 118: Auror Application**

"Here we are." James said. "At the Ministry again." The three of them had just apparated and landed at one end of a very long and splendid hall with a highly polished, dark wood floor.

"Doesn't this whole place just look _magical_?" Remus joked. The peacock blue ceiling was inlaid with gleaming golden symbols that kept moving and changing like some enormous heavenly notice board.

"I wouldn't want to floo if I have another alternative." Sirius shook his head. The three guys walked down the hall, with many glided fireplaces at both side of the wall. Every few seconds a witch or wizard would emerge from one of the left-hand fireplaces with a soft whoosh, dusting themselves and straightening their robes as they headed towards the entrance. Some people chose to floo because it was safer than apparating in many aspects, with the exception of landing at some other fireplace rather than the one you wanted to end up in. Of course the other reason being the fact that they had not passed their Apparation test.

The most significant structure in the hall was the fountain. A group of golden statues, larger than life-size, stood in the middle of a circular pool. Tallest of them all was a noble-looking wizard with his wand pointing straight up in the air. Grouped around him were a beautiful witch, a centaur, a goblin and a house-elf. The last three were all looking adoringly up at the witch and wizard. Glittering jets of water were flying from the ends of their wands, the point of the centaur's arrow, and the tip of the goblin's hat and each of the house-elf's ears.

The three guys subconsciously put their hands into their pockets in search for a galleon or two to make a donation. Afterall, their parents had always reminded them to be charitable with their wealth. Money always flowed to those who were more generous and giving.

"Five galleons for you." James dropped five gold coins into the Fountain of Magical Brethren. There were scarcely any golden Galleons inside, although there were quite a number of silver Sickles and bronze Knuts glinting up from the bottom of the pool.

"Eight for you today. Give you more when I become an auror." Sirius dropped his eight galleons one by one, enjoying the little splash and ripples caused by his coins.

"Looks like I can only spare ten for you today." Remus dropped in ten galleons at one go and creating a louder splash. Right now, it appeared that there were as many golden Galleons inside the pool as the other coins.

"I give another five later when I come out." James shrugged off. "Let's go in. We're not here for this." The three guys continued heading towards the golden gates of the Ministry. They stopped at a desk on the left of the gates, with a sign saying _Security_, a clean-shaven wizard in peacock blue robes looked up as they approached and put down his _Daily Prophet_.

"We're here to get an application to be aurors, as advertised on today's Daily Prophet." James said politely.

"Your name, please." The security guard held up a long golden rod and passed it up and down their front and back, one after another.

"James Potter, Sirius Black and Remus Lupin." At one side, a quill was writing their names down into a big logbook and their purpose as well automatically.

"Okay, your wands." He put down his golden instrument and took their wands and dropped it on to a strange brass instrument, which looked something like a set of scales with only one dish. It began to vibrate and a narrow strip of parchment came speeding out of a slit in the base. He did the same thing for all three of their wands.

After reading and clarifying their wand types, he impaled the little slip of parchment on a small brass spike and returned their wands.

"Thank you." They thanked the security and went through the golden gates.

"Can't really remember when was the last time I stepped in here." Sirius commented, looking round at the bustling crowd of people.

"We just came here for our apparation test a few years back." Remus reminded. "That was like two or three years back." Other than that, they had went to the Ministry several other times, since their parents worked for the Ministry in one Department or another.

Jostled slightly by the crowd, they made their way through the gates into the smaller hall beyond, where at least twenty lifts stood behind wrought golden grilles. They joined the scurrying crowd around one of them.

With a great jangling and clattering a lift descended in front of them, the golden grilled slid back and the three of them stepped into the lift with the rest of the crowd. It was so tightly packed inside that they could barely make a conversation. The grilles slid shut with a crash and the lift ascended slowly, chains rattling, while a cool female voice rang out, announcing the level they ascended.

The lift door opened to an untidy-looking corridor, with various posters of Quidditch teams tacked lopsidedly on the walls. After two of the wizards departed, the doors closed and the lift juddered upwards again and the woman made the next level announcement.

"Apparation Test Center." James pointed out to Sirius when the lift doors opened. Five witches and wizards got out and several paper aeroplanes swooped into the lift. Once again, the door closed and continued ascending upwards, the paper planes were flapping idly above their heads but none of them gave it a second look.

It went on for another three levels before the woman finally announced 'Level Two, Department of Magical Law Enforcement, including Improperly Use of Magic Office, Auror Headquarters and Wizengamot Administrative Services.' They followed the two others wizards out of the lift along with several memo planes that flew out towards their respective destination. They walked along the corridors lined with doors while sunlight streamed in through the enchanted windows.

"Finally. I could die in that lift." Sirius shook his head. "How did it managed to hold so many people and so many things and yet move really bewilder me?"

"I know what you mean. It was like so cramp inside until I can hardly breathe." James laughed, reading the signs on the doors as they bypassed them. "You better get used to that if you intend to come here on a daily basis."

"I probably will figure some way I can get up here without going through the squeezing lifts episode." Sirius said nonchalantly.

"I'm looking forward for your discovery then." Remus laughed. "If you can do it, that would be impressive. I'm sure many other people would have done it, if not for strict limitations I believe."

"I think we've reached." They turned around a corner and walked through a pair of heavy oak doors and emerged in a clustered open area divided into cubicles, which was buzzing with talk and laughter. Memo planes were zooming in and out of cubicles like miniature rockets.

"Wow, cool!" Sirius was looking around the office, which did look like a happening place.

In front of them was a signage that read:

Application for Auror position.

Go straight.

Third door on your right.

"Let's go." The three of them walked straight in, by passing two offices and reached the third one. From the glass window, they could see the wizard behind the desk was speaking to someone else, so they just stood outside and waited, rather impatiently.

After about five minutes, the young man came out, gave a quick smile and departed.

"Go ahead." James and Remus told Sirius, since he was the most impatient one of the lot.

"Come in." The wizard in the room gave the cue and Sirius entered the office. James and Remus took a seat nearby and waited for their turn.

Within ten minutes, Sirius came out of the room, before they could ask him about his interview; he gave a quick thumb-up sign and an encouraging smile before leaving them there, the same look the previous wizard gave.

"Weird." James raised his eyebrows. "That's not very Sirius." With that he knocked on the door and entered when the wizard inside gave a 'come in' cue.

"Good afternoon, sir." James greeted politely as he entered.

"Good noon. Take a seat. I'm Alastor Moody. What's yours?" Alastor Moody introduced himself. One of his eyes, a large, round and electric blue, was spinning around his socket extremely quickly, and it seemed to be scrutinizing him.

"My name is James Potter, sir." James was looking at Moody's magical eye in amazement. His father had told him about Alastor Moody back then, and he had seen him in his family parties, but never had he just faced him one-to-one in an enclosed office in the Ministry.

"Ah, Harry's son. I see. I see." Alastor nodded approvingly. "He was a great man. I see your father in you."

"Thank you, sir." James thanked him sincerely.

"So what makes you want to be an auror?" Alastor asked.

"I want to be in the team that defeat Voldemort. Rid the world of evil villains who take innocent lives for no reason." James said with a tinge of anger in his voice.

"That's a noble dream." Alastor's magical eye seemed to tone down a little in movement.

"Are you fully aware of the dangers?"

"Yes." James said with determination.

"Including death."

"Yes, including death." James affirmed.

"Good. Cast a spell."

"What spell?" James questioned on the open-ended statement.

"Cast a spell."

"Ok." James thought for a while and cast the Disillusionment Charm on himself. His body now took the exact colour and texture of the chair he was sitting on.

"Very good, now reverse back." Alastor nodded approvingly, with a tinge of smile. James lifted the Disillusionment Charm off himself. "You're officially part of the team of Aurors from today onwards."

"Thank you, sir." James could hardly contain his excitement.

"Report here on next Monday at eight-thirty. You'll be learning from a senior auror here until you're ready."

"Ok."

"Now leave this department, do not stop to speak to anyone inside here. My magical eye can see through walls. And don't even try me." Alastor said in a serious tone.

"Yes, sir."

"I'll see you next week." Alastor leaned back on his seat as James left the office.

"Thank you." James left the office; he gave an encouraging smile at Remus, who was still sitting outside, with two other auror-to-bes now and walked towards the exit.

"Woah! James! I've got it!" Sirius overly excited voice could be heard echoing along the entire corridor.

"Me too!" James gave Sirius a pat on his back.

"Oh, yeah. Let me introduce. This is Sturgis and this is James." Sirius introduced him to the wizard whom left Alastor's office before Sirius.

"Sturgis Podmore. Nice to meet you." The wizard said politely.

"James Potter. Pleasure to meet you." James smiled. "Looking forward to work together."

"Pardon me, I'm wondering if you are the son of the late Minister." Sturgis was rather straightforward.

"Yes, that's my father." James nodded.

"He was a great man, an amazing wizard." Sturgis complimented earnestly.

"I guess so.." Remus' appearance from the Auror's Headquarters office saved James' any further comments regarding his decreased father.

"Remus, how was it?" Sirius asked the moment Remus walked out.

"I've got it." Remus grinned. "Didn't really expect that."

"Congrats, dude." James gave his best friend a pat on his back. The four budding-aurors made their way out of the Ministry together, talking about the upcoming challenges they would face at work.

"I'll see you all next week. Bye."

"See you." Sturgis apparated away with a 'pop'.

"Let's get back." Remus said. They had been at the Ministry for more than an hour already.

"Let me drop five more galleons inside the fountain." James dropped another five gold coins inside the already galleon-filled pool and then they apparated home from the lobby.

3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3

"Congrats!" The six goblets filled with Vodka Lime gave a series of 'clings'. Afterall, they were sort of adults now; so a little dosage of alcohol would do some good.

"I can't believe Moody gave me the job." Remus was grinning from ear-to-ear.

"You're brilliant, and you know that." Stefanie reminded him.

"Thanks, but well, you know what I meant." Remus draped his arm lazily around Stefanie's shoulders.

"You all should see Moody. His left eye looks – well – magical, if you would describe it that way." Sirius was attempting to dramatize Moody's magical eye with his eyeball, but failing to look even remotely like the actual one.

"Cut that out. That's look _nothing_ like the real magical eye." Arabella told him. "Though I never met him in reality, I knew he can't have look as stupid as you spinning your eyeball."

"His magical eye is supposed to look creepy. Alright, it _does_ look creepy. Imagine that can see through walls." Sirius was thinking, with a finger tapping on his chin. "I wonder if that eye can see through clothes.." Before he could complete his comment, Stefanie and Arabella hit him on his head at the same time from both sides. "Ouch!" Sirius massaged his head and stood up in defense. "That's just a thought, besides, he might be scrutinizing girls all day long when he's not working. You never know."

"I wonder how did he get his magical eye, or more like, where did he get it from?" James said thoughtfully.

"Yeah, I would like to change one of my eyeball magical so I can see through – ouch!" Two hands hit Sirius' on his head again. "I was going to say _walls_."

"Are you sure you will intending to say walls or something else?" Lily teased. "You don't have to put so much emphasis on walls, you know. And walls do rhyme with some other words.."

"Like balls, calls, galls, halls, malls.." Sirius started listing out the rhyming words.

"So you think that Moody saw your _balls_ and decided to hire you based on their size?" The group laughed and the lame joke James came up with.

"Well, at least I think my balls are of decent size." Sirius defended. "Not like there could be some guys with small, or single, or probably no balls to start with."

"Looks like without a magical eye, you had seen so much. Do you think you really need one?" Remus added on to the teasing.

"I would like to see the _balls_ of the opposite sex." Sirius stood up before making that comment, knowing very well that the two of them would hit him again.

"Then we must make sure Sirius never know where the magical eye come from." Stefanie pointed out.

"Then I shall start looking for a magical eye." Sirius said with determination.

"Simply ask Moody where he got it." Remus suggested the most direct way.

"Brilliant idea." Sirius said with enthusisium. "Maybe after working with him for some time." He thought for a moment. "It would be strange if I ask him that on the first day of work."

"You never know, worth trying." Lily suggested.

"Hey Sir, your magical eye really intrigues me. I am just wondering where did you get it. I'm sure that would be very useful for my work as an auror." Sirius said in a joking manner to James, taking him as Moody in his little joke.

"Black, you ought to be spending time at your work, and not mind other people's business." James mimicked Moody's voice, reprimanding him. Everyone just laughed at the whole act between the two guys.

"If Moody can see through wall, he probably can see what you two are doing." Arabella said in between her laughs.

"The Ministry is underground. Not to mention that it is such a long distance away." Sirius assured. "Moody won't know what happen unless he's here."

"I'm right here." Remus spoke in a voice that did not sounded like him. Everyone jumped, but Sirius was the most shocked by that.

"You had me for a moment." Sirius scolded in his acting-serious look. "I don't want to get into trouble with my boss before I even start to work for him."

"I think that's the sanest statement you made tonight." Arabella commented.

3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3

"Good morning, sir." James, Sirius and Remus greeted their boss as he walked into the office at eight on Monday morning. They had just, once again, gotten squashed in the lift, but this time the situation was much more hectic and filled with the morning rush and Monday blues.

"Morning. Come with me to my office." Alastor said. The three excited fresh graduates followed closely behind him, wondering how was the whole first day of work experience going to be like. They had arrived just a few minutes before Alastor and their working life was about to start officially. "Before I assign you to your seniors, is there anything you would like to know?" They shook their heads, and James shot Sirius a knowing look.

"Yes, Mr. Black, you have a question?" Alastor's magical eye spun while his normal eye looked at him questioningly.

"No, sir." Sirius replied.

"Alright then." Alastor's tone was unconvinced but he did not dig into the matter. "If there's no question, Potter, you're assigned to Edgar Bones; Black, to Gideon Prewett; and Lupin to his brother Fabian. You may go now." He looked down and took the stack of documents placed neatly on his 'in' tray and started going through them with his normal eye, while his magical eye was still spinning around. Of course, Sirius looked at it in awe, as always.

"Ok, we've got to look for their desks." Remus said, looking across the whole office full of little cubicles when he spotted four guys heading towards their direction.

"You three must be new aurors." The tall and sturdy guy spoke first. "I'm Edgar Bones and you must be James." He held out his hand and they shared a firm handshake. Most workers in the Ministry would have no problems recognizing James because he looked exactly like a younger replica of his late father, who was the Minister of Magic before Millicent Bagnold.

"Please to meet you." James said respectfully. He knew that he was going to learn loads from this guy

"Fabian Prewett." One of the twins introduced.

"Gideon Prewett." The other twin introduced. Both of them looked identical with a similar dress sense in a slightly different color tones.

"Caradoc Dearborn." He shook hands briefly with the three newcomers. "There should be one more new guy coming, Sturgis Podmore."

"I'm sorry, am I late?" Sturgis walked towards the seven men who were standing a few steps away from Alastor's office. He checked his watched to confirm that he was still ten minutes earlier than the reporting time.

"You're not late, we're early." James assured him.

"I think it's better for you to report to Moody first before doing any other thing." Caradoc told him and prompted Sturgis to go over first.

"This is such a cool place." Sirius said honestly. "It must be awesome working here."

"This is definitely an awesome place to work in, but most of the time we're outdoors. So there's really not much office work we can enjoy here." Fabian replied and directed them to their desks, which were in a row next to them.

"So you need to follow us closely for a year or two before going off on your own, and after three to five years of experience, you'll be ready to train new aurors." Edgar commented.

"So you guys must have had loads of students before." Sirius asked.

"We learn from one another. All the aurors here are considered a team, and we need to work as closely as possible. Before Voldemort was in power, we had about eighty to a hundred aurors at any time, but now, there's barely forty of us left." Edgar said with a tinge of anger and sadness.

"That's why you must be prepared for anything. What had happen are truly tragedies, but we chose the path, we have to accept the way it is." Caradoc, who was another experienced senior auror told them.

"Sorry, I'm late." Sturgis came over and joined the seven men. "Sturgis Podmore, please to meet all of you."

"Caradoc Dearborn." Caradoc introduced himself again, and the rest re-introduced themselves again.

"Let's just with the simple rules and regulations first." Fabian pointed out.

"That's right. First and foremost, it is most recommended that you should report here on Monday morning before eight. Moody implemented this rule to keep track as who else are still with us after the week so everyone still know one another existence. Department meeting always happen on Mondays. Usually it's so rarely that we meet one another, most of us would be here before eight just to hang out and have breakfast together, discussing about the recent happenings. So it is most recommended." Edgar told them.

"But no worries, you will be more or less permanently stuck with your buddy for the next year or so." Gideon gave Sirius a slap on his back.

"I'm sure you four would have no problem with adapting here. Most importantly you must be prepared to be an auror mentally. Once you conquer the mental part, which is the most difficult part, the rest should be no problem." Caradoc said. "Be prepared for the unprepared and expect the worst."

"What a statement for the first day of work." Remus joked.

"Well, it's better to be informed than be ignorant. Other people always thought aurors are highly paid for nothing. It's all in the risk we take to protect so that they can be safe in their home and office." Fabian told them. For a beginner auror, they were being paid three thousand galleons per month and would increase five hundred with each additional year.

"Department Meeting at 9a.m. in Hall A." A loud voice boomed over the entire Auror's Headquarters startling the four of them.

"That's Moody making the announcement." Gideon laughed. "We still have another thirty minutes for a quick bite at the pantry."

"That's what I want exactly." Sirius agreed wholeheartedly.

"I think the two are going to be great buddies together." James shook his head, laughing along with the rest while Sirius and Gideon were already in the pantry looking for food.

"Both of them share the same passion for food."


	120. Working Life

**Chapter 119: Working Life**

"I'm so tired." Janet complained. Lily, and her two colleagues, Janet Toee and Nor Farihin were walking out of their office and heading towards the staff toilet together.

"Well, at least it's the end of the day." Nor said optimistically. She was three years older and was in charge of training the two new trainee healers, namely Lily and Janet.

"I think my bed is calling for me." Lily said in a dreamy state. They were now changing up and preparing to head home after their ten hours shift work in the evening.

"Oh, c'mon. It's like only seven." Nor joked as she washed her hands and disinfected in with the Disinfectant potion.

"Oh ya, someone has a hot date." Lily teased. "What's his name? I can't seem to remember." She grinned cheekily at Nor.

"I don't know. Was his name Inshari or something?" Janet pretended to be deep in thoughts. "You know, that senior healer from _that_ department." The three girls made their way slowly out of the office to the main lobby.

"Yeah, _that_ guy." Lily agreed. Nor was giving her mildly annoyed but amused look anyway.

"There's nothing between us. We're just friends." Nor said defensively. "You girls, ah. I think I know of a certain Kenneth and Charlie, hmm." They were now at the main lobby of St Mungo, where patients, visitors, mediwitches and healers were everywhere.

The main lobby of St Mungo was a double height space with large fireplaces on the two sidewalls, east and west facing. The natural light from the ceiling glass and magical light was subtly controlled by magic to ensure that the illumination on the wall and textile floor covering in the foreground was of the right intensity at any time of the day.

"Trying to change topics." Lily smiled cheekily as they walked beyond the fireplaces, towards the end. People can be seen coming out from the fireplaces and one side and disappearing into them at the other side. Sometimes, if a person was sick, and travel via the Floo network, it might just get worst. But that would definitely be better than splicing due to incomplete apparition. "Alright, don't tease you for the time being. I make a move first."

"Yeah, me too. Bye girls, see you tomorrow." Nor waved bye and with a 'pop', she apparated away.

"See ya." In two 'pops', both girls apparated to their own homes respectively.

Lily dragged herself along the Black's Manor hallway and heading towards her bedroom for a refreshing shower. _Can't believe it's not even eight. It already felt like two in the morning._ She thought and with much effort, she managed to make her way into her bedroom.

X

"I've near been this tired." Stefanie muttered as she walked into the hallway of the Black's Manor on a Wednesday evening. She had gotten a job as a journalist for the Daily Prophet three weeks ago and she's already struggling to hit the daily datelines.

"You look tired." Lily opened her door. "Is everything alright?" She walked over and eyed Stefanie suspiciously.

"Actually it's fine." Stefanie said honestly. "I've a very sheltered life all these years, that's why I'm finding it a little tough in this working world. But everything is okay, I'm adapting. Just a little more hectic and fast paced than I thought." She leaned against the wall next to the wall and closed her eyes.

"That's life generally. Life is teaching us lessons by pushing us in this manner. Once you can adapt to this fast-paced life, everything just gets easier." Lily placed her hands reassuringly over Stefanie's shoulders and leading her into the bedroom.

"I get your point. It's like you're working longer hours than I'm but yet your energy level is still as high. Sometimes I just wonder how you do it." Stefanie sat down on one of the armchairs while Lily magicked a pot of lukewarm rosebud tea and poured a cup for her tired friend.

"Because I know that no matter what happens, I've friends like you that will be there to help me up when I fall." Lily gave Stefanie a hug as she handed her the cup.

"Thanks. Really appreciate that. I need a shower before dinner." With that, Stefanie left for her bathroom, while Lily took today's issue of Daily Prophet from the dresser and left the room.

"Yo, Lily flower." Sirius greeted cheerfully as he entered the hallway whereby Lily was about to enter her own room. James and Remus followed behind him, apparently having some little discussion. "C'mon, don't hide in your room. Let's go to the hall." Sirius then ushered everyone into the main hall.

"Hey guys, so how's work today?" Lily shrugged and looked up from her papers before she even started reading.

"Okay day." James replied on behalf of them and took a seat naturally beside Lily on the two-seater sofa. "What's new today?" He eyed the Daily Prophet that was laid opened on the coffee table.

"Yet to read and you guys appeared." Lily shrugged.

"Where's Stef?" Remus asked suddenly.

"Just went for her shower. Probably still in her room."

"Thanks." Remus stood up from the armchair where he was seated so comfortably and went towards Stefanie's bedroom.

"Don't you think time flies ever since we left Hogwarts?" Lily asked James and Sirius suddenly. "It's like before I know it, I've been with St Mungo for nearly three months." For the last three months, they had been busy with their work at their respective companies. James, Sirius and Remus were Aurors with the Ministry; Lily was a Healer at St Mungo; Stefanie was a journalist at the Daily Prophet and Arabella was with a teacher for children who have yet to reach the age to enter any magical schools. They had tried to meet up at least once a week for a group dinner at one of their house and today were one of those days.

"Well, that's life. I seldom meet up with old friends anymore unless they're working in the Ministry. It's nearly impossible with our unpredictable schedule." James said as a matter-of-fact. "I wonder if there's anything we can do."

"That reminds me. Remember Dumbledore said about the Order of the Phoenix?" Lily thought suddenly.

"That's right. It slipped off my mind totally." Sirius said excitedly. "It's definitely going to be useful with the fact that we're working at various important places. Like us in the Ministry, you at hospital, and Stef with the media."

"So what have you all been talking about? I heard my name." Stefanie walked into the living room holding hands with Remus, looking much more refreshed.

"Looking good now." Lily smiled.

"Huh?" James asked quizzically.

"I mean she looked terrible just now before her shower, really dreadful." Lily said truthfully.

"Really?" Remus asked with deep concern, looking at Stefanie.

"I'm fine. I mean that's normal for us. You guys look terribly tired at times too." Stefanie said defensively. "It's working life."

"Alright, but take care of your health and don't overwork yourself." Remus reminded.

"Hey guys!"

"Hey Belle, we've been waiting long enough!" Sirius stood up from his armchair. "Let's hit the tables."

"It's normal for Sirius to hit the table, literally." Stefanie joked. Over the years, as cool and sharp Sirius was, he had the tendency to knock against the table, whether it was the table edges or the legs, or just a bump.

"Well, at least I can hit the table in many ways, literally and as a figure of speech." Sirius said wittily. "Not everyone can be like me."

"Actually no one wants to be like you." Arabella told the rest but it was loud enough for Sirius to hear her.

"Are you sure? Just let me make an announcement and I beg there'll be a queue of fans who wants to be like me, or be me if they ever have the chance." Sirius boasted. Remus and Stefanie just shook their heads in disbelief while James and Sirius laughed at his comment.

"I think I smell the black pepper chicken for dinner." Sirius sniffed as they turned into their dinning hall. On the round table, there was a spread of food, ranging from chicken to fish to beef.

"Looks great." Stefanie grinned and took a seat at the chair closest to her. "Let's start!" All six of them helped themselves with the large spread of dishes in front of them.

X

James, Sirius and Remus walked into the Auror Headquarters on a sunny Monday morning, looking a little groggy after a weekend of fun and quidditch. They had worked long and hard, with the expectation of being a full-fledged auror after a year, as Moody had told them. For some reason or another, Moody had wanted them to be fully trained within a year.

"Morning." The three guys greeted Edgar who was already sitting at the desk next to James.

"Morning guys. Have you heard about the latest attack?" Edgar asked, he looked a little stranger than usual.

"Er… Actually no." James admitted sheepishly. The three of them had totally ignored the fact that they were auror and played as if they were still kids, not caring about anything happening in this world for the entire weekend.

"There was an attack at Horizon Alley across at the other side of the country. Not a big one, but still…" Edgar drifted off. "Anyway, twenty deaths and two Deatheaters were killed and one was captured and sent to Azkaban without a trial.

"Ooh." The three guys did not know what to say.

"Were your – friends, there?" James asked in concern. His senior auror always had that upset expression whenever he had a close friend or relative killed in an attack.

"Yeah, an old friend from Hogwarts. Were rather good friends but after graduation, we kind of drift apart. Though in contact, but not as close as before. Still, it's upset to hear about his death, and his wife too." Edgar shook his head and closed the file that he was reading. "Well, life goes on. Who's keen for a cup of coffee?"

"Yeah, better get it before Moody makes that announcement." James said light-heartedly.

X

"It had been so long since we last went out together alone." Lily commented. Ever since they had started work four months ago at their respective companies, they had rarely gone out for dates.

"Well, we're busy and our schedules are rather difficult to match. I hope you understand my difficulties." James said honestly.

"I certainly understand. It's alright, I'm not the sticky type of girlfriend who needs to you to be by my side twenty-four-seven." Lily joked.

"That's my Lily." James kissed her hair and smelt the fragrance of her shampoo. "You changed the brand of your shampoo."

"Yeah, the old one didn't work too well, so I just change it last week." Lily updated him. At most they could only meet together up to three times a week, but regardless how busy, they would definitely meet at least once to keep the relationship going.

"We're here." James said and both of them stopped in front a steak restaurant named Jack's Place. "Let's go in." A waitress at the entrance led them into the restaurant. It was rather romantic as the place had a country style designed and dimly lit. On every table was a red candle on a little glass dish.

"I can't remember when was the last time we came here." Lily told him. It was a muggle restaurant and not too well known in the wizarding community.

"I think we came here last year or the year before with the rest of them." James shrugged. "Don't remember either."

"Well, let's order our food first, I'm starving." Lily looked down at the menu, which the waitress handed to her before she left to serve other customers.

X

"Got it." Stefanie flurried through a series of documents and took out several pieces of parchments from her tray and handed over to her colleague who was sitting next to her in the cubicle across. As hectic and fast-paced the job at Daily Prophet was it had a great sense of satisfaction whenever the paper was published.

"Finished." Nadine Clearwater took the stack of papers from Stefanie had brought it in for publishing. Both of them were new to the Daily Prophet editorial board and were still assigned with relatively insignificant topics. But at least it was still read by millions of wizards and witches daily.

"This is my favorite part of the day!" Nadine jumped out from her chair in excitement. It was nearly evening and time to knock-off for the day. "So where're you going later?"

"Dinner with my boyfriend. What about you?" Stefanie asked as she packed up her things and was preparing to depart from the office.

"A date with my boyfriend." Nadine smile was infectious and her happiness was radiating from her face.

"I can see your excitement and passion already." Stefanie teased. "Then get going."

"It's not for another thirty minutes after his quidditch training." Nadine said with a tinge of impatience. "So I still have some time to spare."

"Nah, not today. Another day I guess. Besides aren't we meeting again for lunch on Monday?" Stefanie smiled.

"Oh yeah, we've so got to try that new pasta store across the street." Nadine was easily excitable over simple things in life.

"Don't worry. We will. Next week alright?" Stefanie shook her head in amusement. "See ya then." She grabbed her handbag and left her desk.

"Bye. Have a good time." Nadine called from behind.

"Thanks. You too." Stefanie smiled at her favorite colleague before walking through the doors out of the office and towards the main lobby of the building where she could apparate.

"Hey, Stefanie." Stefanie turned around and blinked, taking several seconds to process that was calling her name.

"Oh, hey Mabel, what a surprise!" Stefanie exclaimed. "It had been months since I last met you." Mabel Brocklehurst was a Ravenclaw from her year and the last time they met was in Hogwarts.

"Yeah, so you are working for the Daily Prophet too?" Mabel asked. It was a busy lobby as wizards and witches were hurrying home from work, via apparation and fireplaces.

"Yup, as a journalist." Stefanie told her. "What about you?"

"I'm part of the Sales team and customer service." Mabel told her. "I think I deal more with owls and people." She joked.

"How long have you been here?"

"About a month. What about you?"

"Nearly five months." Stefanie told her. "Oh, I think I'm running a little late to meet Remus. Tell you what, I catch up with ya for lunch one of these days?"

"Sure. Bye!" Waving goodbye, she apparated back to Black's Mansion, where she intended to meet Remus.

"Looks who's late." Remus teased as Stefanie appeared with a 'pop' in the living room.

"Sorry. A little delayed." Stefanie went towards her room with Remus tagging along behind her. "Guess who I saw today."

"Who?" Remus was too tired to ask after a long day of work himself.

"Mabel, the Ravenclaw from our year." Stefanie told him as she accioed some clothes and brought into the bathroom with her. Remus was sitting on an armchair in her bedroom.

"Oh, how is she?" Remus asked, trying to muster some interest, although the last thing in his mind was ex-schoolmates.

"She's working at the Prophet too." Stefanie told him. "At the Sales team."

"I see." Remus raised his voice so Stefanie could hear him. He grabbed the latest issue of the Daily Prophet from Stefanie's desk and started reading while waiting for his girlfriend to be ready for their dinner date.

"Sorry, give me five more minutes." Stefanie looked a little flustered.

"Take your time. It's my pleasure to wait for you." Remus looked up and smiled at Stefanie who was grabbing her purse and cards and tissue and throwing them into another bag.

"Soon, soon." Stefanie walked across the room to brush her hair and set it with a touch of her wand. "Ready."

"Let's get going." Remus stood up, putting the papers aside. "I'm starving."

"Me too." Stefanie placed her hand on Remus' right elbow and walked out of the bedroom with him.

X

"Kids these days." Arabella muttered and shook her head.

"What's with them?" Lily looked up from her tea. Arabella had just popped by in the early afternoon and Stefanie was already at work.

"Can you believe how bratty they can get?" Arabella said in an impatient voice. "Oh, teacher, I forgot." She mimicked one of her students. "That's alright actually. What about those who argue back?" She took a deep breath. "Teacher, you did not say that we needed to _do_ the homework. You told us 'don't forget your homework' and not 'don't forget to _do_ your homework'."

"That sounds like what James and Sirius would say when they were eight."

"Honestly, the two rich brats totally reminded me of James and Sirius when they were eight." Arabella took a sip of her ice earl vanilla tea that Stefanie's house elves had made for them.

"Well, it's not like we know them before Hogwarts, but I guess there's the resemblance, somehow." Lily laughed. "They drive you nuts now, but next time you'll find them funny."

"Well, come to think about it, it was a rather funny scene. But I'm sure if you were the one trying to educate the two eight-year-olds, you will forget that you are sane. And that two kids sure know that they drive me nuts." Arabella laughed a little at the thought. "But all in all, they're alright. I'll manage through."

"Glad to hear that." Lily laughed. "Jeez, it's that late already, I think I better get going."

"You better. I'll be fine alone." Arabella gave the shooing gesture. "Have a good day."

"Thanks. You too." Lily grabbed her bag and left the dinning hall towards the living room.

_It's so hard to catch them these days. Everyone is just so busy. _Arabella was deep in thoughts and sipping her drink subconsciously.

"Belle!" Stefanie called out as she entered the dinning hall, where Arabella was sitting alone, looking a little off-focused.

_Why did I have this feeling that something bad is about to happen? What exactly is it? I can't seem to get the exact picture. _Arabella frowned.

"Belle, is something wrong?" Stefanie called again.

"Huh?" Arabella came out of her dazed and looked at Stefanie in surprised. "Stef, aren't you supposed to be at work?"

"Yeah, I forgot some docs, then Daisy told me that you're here." Stefanie took a seat next to Arabella. Daisy was one of the Black's family house elves and she was packing Stefanie's room when she appeared.

"Oh, right. Just day-dreaming." Arabella mustered a reassuring smile.

"But you're frowning just now." Stefanie argued. "Is something wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong." Arabella placed a hand over Stefanie's hand. "I'm just tired. You know, children can be just so hard to teach these days." She shrugged.

"Good to hear that it's just work. Tell me more about it next time, all right. Take care, I've gotta go." Stefanie stood up, giving Arabella a hug before living her alone once again.

_Where was I? Oh, that feeling. What is it? How come I just can't seem to get the exact picture of something I seen before? _Arabella closed her eyes and tried to remember something she seen a long time ago. Afterall, woman's instincts could be accurate and it was rather strong.

"Arabella Figg!"

_Great, just what I need right now._ Arabella sighed.

"What are you doing here?" Arabella turned and asked.

"This is _my_ house for your information." Sirius told her and sat down on the chair where Stefanie sat previously.

"Oh, right. How can I forget?" Arabella muttered. "Aren't you supposed to be working?"

"Not now. But James and Remus is at work and Peter is busy working too, so I'm all bored here." Sirius told her. "Well, now that you're here…"

"Don't give me any crazy ideas. I'm not in the mood." Arabella put up her hands defensively, knowing very well Sirius was up to something.

"I've got this awesome suggestion." Sirius started, pretending he did not hear Arabella's protest. "There's these muggle carnival that Lily told me about in muggle London now. It has got all those cool rides and -"

"Yeah, I know what carnival you're talking about." Arabella shut him off at mid-sentence.

"It sounded really cool and she said that the ride goes three hundred and sixty degrees and they spin really fast." Sirius went on.

"You know what, I think it's a good idea." Arabella stood up suddenly. "Let's go. And please behave normally, which meant no wands and no magic and no mischief."

"Yes, madam." Sirius gave a funny salute as he seen it from muggle shows. "By floo?" He asked, since Arabella cannot apparate.

"No, muggle transport." Arabella walked ahead of him, heading towards the door that was rarely opened unless she came because all of them apparate in and out of the house.


	121. Attack at St Mungo

**Chapter 120: Attack at St Mungo**

"You look sick, are you alright?" Janet asked Lily in concern. They were having their late lunch at the staff cafeteria in St Mungo.

"I guess I feel a little feverish." Lily touched her forehead. "I probably go home after this."

"Ya, you better. Otherwise you might get worse if you stay around here." Janet told her. Although with all the precautions, it was still possible getting some contagious diseases while working in a hospital.

"Weird. I was okay yesterday until after dinner I felt a little queasy." Lily tried to swallow some of the mashed potatoes she bought for lunch.

"Must be your dinner last night, ate too much, right?" Janet teased.

"I supposed so." Lily closed her eyes and taking deep breath.

"I think we better find Nor, get yourself some medicine and send you home now." Janet said, standing up and pulling Lily up.

X

"Stef, you alright?" Nadine called out from the cubicle across Stefanie.

"I'm having this splitting headache." Stefanie was using her hands to support her head.

"Oh Merlin! You looked pale!" Nadine said in shock when Stefanie looked up at her. "I think you better go to St Mungo."

"I'll be okay after a rest at home." Stefanie took a deep breath, trying to ease her aching head a little.

"I'll inform Boss for you." Nadine was bending down beside Stefanie right now. She wrote a note on a piece of parchment and cast a charm. The parchment folded into a plane magically and flew towards their Head Editor's office. "Let's go." She held Stefanie up to her feet and grabbed her handbag along.

"Need help?" Grace Skeeter, another colleague who sat nearby, offered.

"Yes, please." Nadine said with some difficulty. Both ladies helped Stefanie up and tried to walk out of the office.

X

"Is there something wrong with the air here, or is it just me?" James asked Edgar. He was in the office doing some research before heading out later in the afternoon with his direct supervisor. Sirius was outside with the Prewett twins, doing a follow-up on the attack at Horizon Alley while it was Remus off day.

"I don't think so." Edgar looked over at James at the opposite cubicle. "Dude, you look sick." He was quite shocked at how pale James looked suddenly despite his tanned complexion.

"I don't know. I'm having this bad headache, as if I haven't slept for ages." James took out his spectacles and closed his eyes while massaging his temples a little.

"I think you better get a check-up at St Mungo. Sometimes I get these bad headaches after working on tough cases too." Edgar told him. "I'll inform Moody for you. Better get some rest tomorrow. We need you here, healthy and fine." He said in a teasing tone but at the same time concern for his trainee auror.

"Thanks Ed. I'll be fine after a rest. It's just sudden." James took his wallet and wand from the desk and left the Auror Headquarters office, going to the lobby. _Weird, I seldom have such a headache. Was it something I ate yesterday? _He tried to remember what could have caused his headache. _Had a dinner with the rest but they all seemed fine this morning. It must be the lack of breakfast._ He walked out of the lift and towards the fireplaces. It was a better idea to floo to St Mungo than apparating there today.

X

Sirius shook his head, trying to ease the pain off his head but to no avail.

"You alright?" Gideon asked. The two of them were walking along Horizon Alley doing some follow-up checking of the area after the Deatheaters' attack two weeks ago. Most of the people seemed to have a fearful look on them, as if there might be an attack again any time.

"I don't know. It's just a sudden headache. I think I must be lacking of sleep lately." Sirius told his senior. He stopped midway and supported himself against a wall.

"Let me send you to St Mungo for a check up. I don't want you to be down with Wizard Flu or something. It's quite torturous if it's serious." Gideon placed his arm on Sirius' right shoulder.

"Thanks." Sirius gave a grateful thanks and Gideon apparated both of them to St Mungo.

X

_What a day to have a headache!_ Remus slurped down a glass of lukewarm water by his bedside. He was resting at home on his off day, intending to meet Stefanie for dinner later on in the evening after her work. And the last thing he wanted was to fall sick. He laid down on his bed again, trying to get some sleep. _Forget it. I might as well as go for a check up. I don't want to be sick and go through the stupid transformation tomorrow night._

X

"Master, they will all be in St Mungo within an hour from now."

"Perfect! Well done, Wormtail."

X

_At least now I don't feel so bad. I think I really need a good sleep. _Lily walked towards St Mungo lobby where she was about the floo home to the Black's Mansion when she caught sight of someone appearing from the fireplace at the opposite wall. "James?" She murmured to no one in particular. She excused herself off the exiting queue and walked towards the guy. "James."

"Lily? Aren't you supposed to be working now?" James looked up in surprised and saw his girlfriend.

"Yeah, but I wasn't feeling too well. So I got some medicine and was about to floo home. You look pale, what happened?" Lily asked in deep concern, touching his face and frowning at how ill James looked.

"Forgot my breakfast today and now suffering from it." James mumbled. Lily led James up to the second floor via the lift.

"Looks like I've to remind you to take breakfast in the future." Lily joked as both of them entered towards the consultation rooms.

"That would be nice." James mumbled as he sat down and Lily went to the counter to get a number for him.

X

Sirius and Gideon were walking along St Mungo main lobby when suddenly simultaneous popping sound was heard all around them.

"Deatheaters." Gideon said instantly, taking out his wand and alerted the people nearby. Within seconds, a large number of black-cloaked wizards appeared in the lobby, and started terrorizing the place.

"AAHHH!"

"_Crucio_!"

"HELPPP!" Frightened screams were heard amidst the Deatheaters' shouting out the Unforgivable Curses.

"_Avada__ Kedavra_!" A flash of green light appeared from the Deatheater's wand and hit a man in hospital attire. He fell backwards and laid totally still with his eyes opened in horror.

Sirius immediately cast a Disillusion Charm on himself while Gideon was defending both of them from Deatheaters.

"_Stupefy_. _Expelliarmus_!" Gideon shouted. It was too chaotic and there were too many people around, he could not use any spells that could harm the innocent in case it missed the Deatheaters.

"_Crucio_!"

"_Expelliarmus_!" A disillusioned Sirius shouted in all directions around him. He knew that in his condition, his incantations might not work as well as they should. And at this point of time, spells were flying all directions, both the Unforgivables and defensive ones.

X

"What's that noise?" Lily looked up. It sounded like there was a riot downstairs. Many patients and hospital staffs were both shocked and surprised at the noise level.

"Lily, be careful." James walked up to Lily's side. "I think might be Deatheaters." He looked grimly, eyeing the lift lobby suspiciously.

"This is a plot." Suddenly she seemed to have an idea what happened. "And that's why we're here." They looked at each other in the eye and had some sort of understanding.

"Wand?" James touched the wand in his back pocket. It appeared that some others had the similar thoughts and took out their wands defensively. "I'm casting the Disillusion Charm on you." He tapped his fingers on Lily's head and immediately she camouflaged into the background. "Don't worry about me."

"James, wait." Lily took out her medicine. "I got this painkiller for headache. Take a small sip, might relieve yours." James took a tiny sip from the bottle. Instantly the pain and dizziness was gone, but there was still some strange lingering sensation.

"I've got to go. Take care of the people here." James released Lily's hand.

"Don't. It's dangerous." Lily held onto James' wrist tightly, refusing to let him go.

"This is my job. Remember what we're here for." James whispered close to her although he could not see where her ears were. "We've to fulfill our mission. Take care. I love you." James gave Lily a kiss, which landed on her forehead.

"I love you too. You must come back to my side safely." Lily was teary, releasing her grip.

"I'll be back. Be careful." James said. Suddenly there were screams coming from the lift lobby and it was getting closer.

"_Crucio_." Both of them turned and saw the cloaked Deatheaters at the entrance. James let go of Lily and ran forward, with his palm in front. Wands could only cast a spell at any one time while he could perform simultaneous spells at the same time.

"_Petrificus__ totalus_." James aimed at one of the Deatheaters who cast the Cruciatus Curse on one of the healers. "_Protego_!" He shouted a strong Shielding Charm at the entrance to deflect the curses thrown by the Deatheaters. Some Unforgivable Curses reflected and hit the Deatheaters themselves. James quickly sent out a series of red sparks from his wand as a signal to alert the aurors about the attack.

X

"_Protego_!" Lily ran forward after James and started casting the Shielding Charm at the door to prevent the Deatheaters' curses from reaching any more victims. She had gotten a shock when she witnessed the Cruciatus Curse hitting one of her colleagues. To her relief, some of the Unforgivables actually reflected back to the casters and three of the Deatheaters were down. _Oh no! What else? _She tried to remember some of the defensive charms she learnt in school. "_Avis_!" A flock of small, twittering birds flew out from her wand and aimed straight at the Deatheaters' face, pulling down their hoods.

"_Avada__ Kedavra_!" A shot of green light was hitting at her direction and she quickly jumped behind the pillar, knowing well that it was the killing curse. _Shit! They might have noticed me! _Suddenly she saw a series of birds coming out from several wands around the roomful of patients and hospital staffs.

X

_Birds?__ Only Lily is capable of conjuring something like this. _James thought and smiled inwardly while hiding behind a counter. He has cast a Disillusion Charm on himself as well. Within minutes, there were a flock of birds flying towards the Deatheaters at the lift lobby from various directions in the room. Apparently he was not the only one casting the Shielding Charm at the door either.

He started transfiguring small objects on the floor into large rocks and hit the Deatheaters. As much as he had wanted to cast the Unforgivables at the Deatheaters, he knew that it was not a wise thing to do when there was such a large group of innocent people around.

X

"Woah!" Remus jumped when a spell hit on the wall of the fireplace. St Mungo main lobby was in mayhem. Instinctively, he cast a Disillusion Charm over himself and squatted behind inside the wall of the fireplace. Spells were flying at all directions and apparently the Deatheaters were winning. Most of the people were lying on the floor with barely any movement. _Shit. An attack. _He saw the Deatheaters walking into the hospital while a few of them remained guarding the grounds in case of any intruders. He levitated a few benches from the other side of the lobby and aimed straight at the Deatheaters. Just then he caught sight of someone lying unconscious on the floor. _Stefanie_As much as he wanted to go closer to her, his auror instincts told him to stay away until the coast is clear. He closed his eyes, took a deep breath and aimed his wand straight at the standing Deatheaters. "_Imperio_!" He shouted out three times, aiming at the three Deatheaters. "Walk away from the entrance to the end of the lobby." The cloaked Deatheaters turned around and walked towards the other end of the lobby, as commanded by him. "Throw your wands as far away from you as possible and remove your cloak." The three Deatheaters, once again, followed his command. "_Petrificus__ Totalus_!" The exposed Deatheaters fell down on the floor into a full body bind. He sent out some magical ropes and tied the three Deatheaters together at the other side of the wall. Immediately he ran forward to Stefanie's side.

"Stef!" Remus turned the unconscious Stefanie around and started shaking her. "Wake up! Please wake up!" Stefanie's eyelids fluttered a little and opened her eyes.

"Remus." She said in a very weak voice. "I'm hurting." He looked at her neck and realized the orange gem on her heart-shaped pendant flickered.

"Don't worry. I'm around." Despite the fact that he was not feeling well himself, he carried her up.

"Where do you think you're going?"

X

Sirius opened his eyes and looked up. _Where am I? _He turned to his side and saw heaps of people who were lying on the floor unconscious. He wanted to sit upright but his body was aching for some unknown reason. _Gideon. Sheesh. Where is he? _He turned to look around trying to find his friend.

"Where do you think you're going?" A high-pitched and eerie voice rang through the silence of the lobby. He turned and saw a sight that he would never forget. Voldemort. And the worst thing that could happen was Remus carrying Stefanie in front of him. _Remus is cornered. _He closed his eyes and tried to gather his thoughts. _Wand.__ Where is it? _His wand was missing. _Great.__ What can I do now? You're an auror, think. _He was staring straight at his enemy when suddenly Voldemort seemed to be levitated.

"YOU!" Voldemort turned his attention and stared straight at his direction although he was still concealed with the Disillusioned Charm. He felt the charm being lifted off from him. _Damn it._

"There's no escape for you three besides death." Voldemort's evil laughter rang through the silence of St Mungo. Just then another twenty Deatheaters appeared and surrounded the three of them.

X

James stood up to take a closer look at the Deatheaters who were now lying on the floor. His palms were still in front of him, ready to cast some defensive spells in case of anything. It seemed like all the Deatheaters were down but it was better to be on guard than not.

X

_This is not the end yet. _Lily looked around, with her wand on hand. She tiptoed briskly and silently towards his colleague who had suffered the Cruciatus Curse. She swept her right hand across his motionless body while her left hand was holding on her wand tightly. _Ok, now where is James?_ She knew that it was not wise to remove the Disillusion Charm and she was currently standing in line of fire and quickly cast a Shield as she ran back to her previous hiding place.

"I am Lord Voldemort!" An evil laughter echoed through the entire area. "Potter and Evans, you can appear now." A dark figure appeared at the doorway where the Deatheaters stood previously.

From her hiding place, Lily could see who he was. _Voldemort_

"If you don't appear this instant, I'm going to kill these people one-by-one, right in front of you. Voldemort spoke as though he knew James and Lily were there. Using his wand, said a spell and suddenly, everyone who were invisible of under the disillusion charm appeared. Most of the people were huddling close together at the various corners, shivering in fear. "Looks like you two are not going to appear until I get started." He pointed his wand to the colleague that Lily healed earlier. "_Avada__ Keda_-"

"STOP!" James appeared from where he was hiding and stood fearlessly in front of Voldemort.

"Good. Where's Evans?" Voldemort smirked. A group of Deatheaters was gathering behind him now.

"Take me. Leave her alone." James glared straight at Voldemort, his fists were clenching tightly.

"Evans, don't say I didn't warn you. _Avada__ Kedavra_." Voldemort pointed his wand at her colleague who was lying unconsciously in front. Before the Killing Curse hit him, James sent him flying behind one of the counters.

"Take me if you want." James repeated acidly.

"Don't worry. I will. I just wanted to gather the whole group of you." Voldemort sneered. "The Blacks and Lupin are waiting for you back home." James gave his defiant stare but did not answer. "I'm sure they're anticipating your arrival." James clenched his fists even tighter and held out was about tempted to cast an Unforgivable at Voldemort. The Deatheaters behind him stood forward and pointed their wands menacingly at James.

"Evans. Don't say I didn't warn you. Potter's life is in your hands." Voldemort snickered evilly.

"Lily, don't come out." James shouted, knowing very well Lily would be able to hear him clearly.

"Isn't that sweet? Protecting your little Mudblood girlfriend." The Deatheaters gave a series of mocking laughter. "_Crucio_!" Voldemort shouted the curse at James.

X

_NO! _Lily wanted to get out when she remembered James' words for her. Although her Disillusion Charmed had been lifted, she was well hidden behind one of the walls.

"_Crucio_!" Voldemort had shouted the curse at James twice. To her amazement, James had disappeared from where he stood and appeared at the other side, escaping from the Unforgivable curse twice. "Teleportation. Very useful indeed." Voldemort laughed evilly.

X

_How did I teleport? _James thought inwardly. There was no way he could show that he was unaware of this power. He never removed his eye contact away from Voldemort.

"Anyone who disobeys me will die." Voldemort's patience was wearing off.

"I rather die than obey you." James' voice contained no trace of trepidation.

"Here's a chance. Work for me. And you'll be rewarded with fame and power beyond your imagination." Voldemort ordered.

"Over my dead body." James said defiantly. "Never ever."

"Very well. You asked for it." Voldemort smiled knowingly. With a wave of his wand, Lily was flunked out of her hiding place.

"Aaaahhh!" Lily screamed in shock when she flew out from her hiding place and landed on the floor a few meters away from Voldemort.

"NO!" James moved forward but was thrown back by Voldemort's dark magic.

"I've warned you." Voldemort looked at James and turned his attention back to Lily who was now wincing in pain.

X

_Ouch! _Lily closed her eyes and concentrated to get the pain off her body. Even after the pain had drained off her body, her pained expression never left her face.

"Mudblood." Voldemort gave Lily a hard kick and sent her flying a few meters away from him. She swallowed whatever pain so that not to give Voldemort the sense of satisfaction.

"Cruciatus curse." Voldemort commanded. Several wands pointed at Lily and a series of "_Crucio_" incantations was heard. James ran forward intending to shield Lily but was thrown back again.

_AAAHHH! _Lily cringed in pain. _Why didn't the curses reflect away? _She was squirming on the floor as she tried to push the pain out of her body. _Think of something, Lily. There must be something. _She tried to reach for her wand but it flew further away from her.

"Lily!" She could hear James calling her name. The pain was getting to her. _Think of something. _With more concentration, she closed her eyes and tried with all her might to push the pain out of her body.

"Looks like the Mudblood is trying to heal herself." Lily heard Voldemort's comment. _He knows about my power._ She tried to breathe in and out and concentrate. She knew there was a way to push the curse out of her body but at this point of time, she just couldn't remember.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!" She screamed out her pain, emitting a strong yellow glow. A sense of relief and recovery flow through her as her pain shot out from her body and flew in all directions.

X

_Oh no! She is driving the pain out and it'll hit us. _James looked around and saw Voldemort, as well as his Deatheaters, looking straight at Lily, relishing her pain as their enjoyment. "_Protego_" He sent a Shielding Charm to protect the other victims as well as himself from Lily.

To his dismay, Voldemort had done the same thing, casting dark magic to protect himself and his Deatheaters from taking in Lily's pain.

"I'm amazed." Voldemort clapped his hands together. "Maybe this mudblood can be useful to us." _Oh no!_ He knew Voldemort must have been concocting some scheming plan in his mind. The only way to protect Lily was to get his attention away from her. He sent a blast of green fire towards Voldemort's direction.

"You don't have to try so hard to get my attention." Voldemort turned back to James. With a wave of his wand, the green flames James conjured became a gust of green mist.

"Master. Don't waste your breath on them." A deatheater bowed low as he approached Voldemort.

"Let me kill them for you, Master." Another deatheater on his left came forward, head bowed in respect or fear, whichever it was.

"Take them away." Voldemort instructed. Deatheaters rushed forward and surrounded them. James immediately concentrated and teleported to Lily's side. Unfortunately for them, the Deatheaters had already grabbed them by their arms and held them down. "Take them back." Dragging both of them, they apparated away from St Mungo.

X

"This is bad." Moody said. Dumbledore had held an emergency meeting as soon as he got news that Voldemort had captured the six of them.

"How can we save them now?" Professor McGonagall asked worriedly. "There's no way the six of them can deal with Voldemort alone."

"I know where they are now." Professor Plains said suddenly.


	122. Second Escape

**Chapter 121: Second Escape**

"Aaa…" Lily stirred and opened her eyes. _Ouch! My whole body is aching._ She tried to look around her but it was too dark to see anything. She sat upright and tried to adjust her eyes to the darkness. _Where is this place?_ _Not the Disillusion Box again. _She shuddered at the thought of being held captives at the same box that she was trapped a few years back. She touched the ground and knocked it. _It's__ wood, a different material. It's not the box._ Lily tried to stand up but she did not seem to have the energy to do so. "James?" She whispered out in the darkness and tried to move around. "James, are you there?"

"Lily?"

"James?" Lily was relief to hear the familiar voice. But her instincts told her to be careful. She was at an unknown place and that voice might not belong to James.

"Lily?" Another familiar male voice was heard, and it did not belong to James.

"Sirius?" Lily moved towards Sirius' voice that sounded closer to her. "Sirius, is that you?"

"Where are we?" Sirius asked. "I can't see a thing."

"Neither can I. Where are you?" James whispered louder this time. "Wait a minute. _Lumos_." James lit up a blue flame with his palm, brightening the entire area.

"James." Lily moved towards James and Sirius direction.

"Stef, are you alright?" Remus, who was lying next to Stefanie sat upright immediately and started shaking her.

"Stef!" Lily rushed towards her best friend. "What happened?" She looked at Remus worriedly. One of her best friend is lying in front of her unconscious.

"Let's not bother with what happened? Let's think about how're we getting out of here?" James spoke rationally.

"It's full moon within twenty hours." Remus said grimly. "That's all the time we have." All of them looked at one another in horror.

"Where is this place? Not the Disillusion Box, I hope." James lifted his right hand where the blue flame burnt brightly to check their surroundings. The five of them stayed closed together in case of any danger lurking around them.

"I don't think so. It's not supposed to look like this inside." Lily looked around. Instead of a smooth surface, the floor felt like it was made of wood. "We're in a house."

They looked around, eyeing the area. It was rather run-down, with spider webs all over the place.

"There're no windows. Are we underground?" Remus looked up, trying to search for a door.

"If we're in a house, there must be a door to get out of here." Sirius pointed out.

"Wait a minute, how did we end up here?" Lily asked.

"Lils, are you crazy? Voldemort captured us, of course." James looked at Lily in disbelief.

"Never mind." Lily looked around her, but felt that she was being watched. "I know. Let's get Stef up." Lily had swept her hand over Stefanie several times before she stirred a little.

"Ouch. Aahhh…" Stefanie blinked and saw four pair eyes looking at her in concern. "Oh. Erm… what happened?" Remus helped her upright.

"I was at St Mungo with Nadine. Oh! Nadine!" Stefanie jolted in realization.

"I'm sure she's fine. It's us that are not fine." Remus broke the news to her gently. "We're held captive by Voldemort."

"Oh. Let's think of something so we can get out of here." Stefanie said whatever popped up in her mind.

"Yeah, we're trying to find a way too." Sirius told her.

"I'm sure we can get out. But how?" Lily looked at her surroundings again. There were old and broken tables and chairs. Cobwebs filled out every nook and corner of the room. It looked like no one had entered here in years.

Stefanie closed her eyes and entered their thoughts. _It's me. I think Voldemort is watching us somewhere up there but I can't be sure. I don't want to risk and enter his thoughts. _The others looked at one another, sharing the same expression and turned to Stefanie in silence. _We can get out of here. I know we can. And I think the only way is for us to use all our possible powers. We're left with less than eighteen hours before full moon. And I think Voldemort wanted to trap us here so Remus can turn all of us into werewolves._ Remus looked at his friends in terror.

"No. No." He shook his head in determination. "I can't."

_Don't worry. That won't happen. We'll be out by then._

_Alright.__ Then what do you think we should do now? _James spoke in his thoughts. He was not sure if the rest heard him, but at least he could only be sure that Stefanie heard him.

_Our wands are not with us now and James is the only one who can perform wandless magic. We can try to apparate out of here but I strongly believe that there are anti-apparating spells around. Sirius and I can try to use those broken tables and chairs and hit the ceiling; hopefully can create a hole where we can crawl out._

_I think I can travel back time to see how we ended up here. _Remus spoke in his thoughts.

_But Remus, you look really bad and I don't think it's a good idea. _Lily said in deep concern for her friend.

_I agree with Lils. You shouldn't waste too much of your energy now. Besides Sirius and I can't transform tomorrow. If Voldemort caught us, we'll be sent to Azkaban before he does. _James told his usually clear-headed friend.

_Alright.__ I shall just stay here. But be careful. _Remus sighed in defeat. He knew they were right. But the idea that he could not do anything to help seemed to make him feel more useless than he already was.

_Wait a minute. _James shouted in his thoughts. The rest of them turned to stare at him in surprised and puzzled look. _I can teleport. _His friends, besides Lily, raised their brows in surprise.

_Since when?_Sirius asked immediately. _How could you hide such a brilliant power from your best friend?_

_I only knew about it yesterday actually. So it's still rather weak. _James admitted. _I didn't know before that either._

_Let's talk about more serious matters on hand. _Remus reminded them.

_Right._They got out from their mind-conversation. James sat on one side of the floor leaning against a rickety table trying to teleport out of the room. Sirius and Stefanie saw down at a distant not too far from James and tried to use their eyes and mind to move the things around the room. Lily and Remus sat slightly away from them, watching them closely as well as keeping a lookout for any dangers. They exchanged an eye contact in silence and then continued watching their friends in action.

X

"This is Riddle's old house." Dumbledore said as the four apparated some distance away from a fine looking manor. It stood on a hill overlooking the village of Little Hangleton.

"This meant that Tom Riddle must be Voldemort." Moody deduced; based on the various evidences he had from work.

"I believe so." Plains nodded. "It is not a good sign." She shook her head and closed her eyes.

"Why would you say that?" Dumbledore asked, looking for any traces of giveaways from Plains' expression.

"Voldemort wanted all the fame and power to control over the whole magical community. The only people who could stop him were the reincarnation of his fellows who held equal powers with him. So he tried to recruit them to join him. Last time was only James and Lily, and now, the rest of them. Arabella is safe because she had lost her magical abilities and no threat to him now." Plains explained what she knew to them but at the same time trying not to reveal too much.

"So that means by turning them into werewolves, he will have a higher power over them." McGonagall concluded.

"That's right. Since he can't get all of them to join him, he had to get rid of them. But it will not happen. They can't get killed so easily. But because Remus is a werewolf, and if he bites the rest of them, it makes everything simpler for him." Plains explained further. _I can't reveal too much. Or the course of future will change._

"Sarah, I believe you know how we can defeat Voldemort." Dumbledore commented.

"Yes, I've seen it." Plains nodded. "But I've also seen the changes because certain things that were meant to happen did not happen. And hence, the course of history had altered."

"What did you mean by that?" McGonagall asked. Although it was not the most appropriate time to have a discussion outside Voldemort's hideout, they believed that Plains was doing the things she deemed thought was right.

"All of them had the power to change Destiny." Plains said affirmatively.

"Now, that's beyond me. Do explain." Moody spoke up.

"There was many things through the course of their lives should have happen, but they prevented it and hence the present changed because of the altered history. I believed that the seven of them has the ability to control destiny, not only for themselves, but also for the whole magical community. Let me just give the example the last time Voldemort captured James and Lily. I'm sure you all could remember that event." Plains said further. Two years ago, Voldemort had captured Lily and James and kept them in the Disillusion Box and Arabella had lost her powers trying to save them. The three of them nodded in silent. "Obviously we all know that James and Lily can't possibly die then because you all had seen their son in the future. But if you all didn't know, they would have been trapped till this day." Plains enlightened them. "That was the first time they defied the Dark Lord. And it had alerted him that this group of youngsters was not as easy to deal with as he originally thought. Hence, this time he intended to capture all five of them." The three of them gasped slightly in surprised. "And the most important thing is, trust no one for there is a traitor among us." Plains turned to look at the large manor, which emitted an evil aura around the whole place.

"Who?" McGonagall asked. "We picked each and every one in the Order with much care."

"I'm in no position to reveal this news." Plains looked away. "For if I divulge something I shouldn't, a worse future awaits us."

"Alright, I think that's enough for time being." Dumbledore spoke suddenly. The skies above darkened as if a storm was brewing. "It's time we go in."

X

"There is not a single trace of sunlight coming." Lily murmured to Remus who was sitting beside her. They had been trapped in the dark room for nearly four hours and nothing had happened. James was still trying to apparate or teleport, or simply just to get out of the room. Stefanie and Sirius had tried to use their various powers to remove the wooden planks above them without making too much sound.

"How far underground do you think we are?" Remus asked, as he looked squinted above him.

"For all you know we might be in the dungeons of this horrible house." Lily muttered. "What house can Voldemort hide us anyway?"

"His house?" Remus muttered lamely. They were trapped, at least time only two of them were.

"His house." Lily looked up. "Then who is Voldemort? What kind of people will call themselves Voldemort?"

"I don't know. Sounds like a Slytherin name." Remus shrugged, although he remained alert at the surroundings.

"V-O-L-D-E-M-O-R-T." Lily spelled out and wrote out the name on the floor. James had already placed blue flames at various spots in the room to increase visibility. "_Mort_ means death in Latin. Then Volde, what does Volde means?"

"Flight from death." Remus whispered knowingly. "His name means flight from death. V-O-L is a short form for Latin _volatus_ which meant flight."

"Oh. Thanks." Lily mumbled. "Do you think we can find his actual name from this word?"

"Are you trying to trace who he is?" Remus frowned slightly. _How can Lily be thinking something like this at this kind of timing?_

"He must have been someone prominent before. He had so many Deatheaters under him. In fact most of them are from Slytherin. So he is probably a Hogwarts graduate. But how long ago, I don't know." Lily tried to rearrange the name. "D-O-O-M." She wrote down on the dusty floor.

"You don't honestly think there's a person named Doom, right?" Remus mumbled in disbelief.

"Dumbledore once said that this Voldemort person might have studied in Hogwarts before based on the fact that majority of the Deatheaters were Slytherins. If he could recruit so many fellow students, he must have been someone outstanding when he was in school." Lily spoke in a soft voice that only Remus could hear so that she would not disturb the three of them.

"Then who are the possibilities?" Remus asked, slightly amused at the way Lily analyzed a name.

"Phineas Nigellus. I don't think it's him, I mean he's supposed to have – well, passed away a long time ago." Lily said as he thought. "The next person I can think of is the Slytherin's last Head Boy in 1940s, Tom Riddle or something like that. I don't quite remember." She tried to think a little further about what she remembered.

"Tom… hmm…" Remus looked at the name Voldemort written on the dusty floor. "T-O-M. Well, You can find the name Tom inside this word though."

"That's strange. What about Riddle?"

"I don't know. What's his middle name?" Remus was trying to figure out Voldemort true identity.

"Mar-something. It's quite a unique name actually." Lily searched through her memory.

"Marcus?" Remus suggested helpfully. He was still keeping an eye at the three of them but now he was trying to solve the mystery of Voldemort too.

"Marve, no, Marvo – Marvolo, I think." Lily said. "Tom Marvolo Riddle."

"Well, well, well." A high-pitch voice echoed in the dimly lit room. All five of them stopped whatever they were doing and stood upright. They were looking around them and huddled close to one another.

"So the mudblood and werewolf solved Voldemort's identity." Voldemort's voice sounded very close but yet none of them could see him.

"So did Dumbledore." The familiar voice of their Headmaster was heard.

"Professor." James exclaimed. They had never felt happier to hear Dumbledore's voice than today. For several more minutes, there was silence.

"What do you think happened?" Lily whispered. The silence was really peculiar.

"Do you think Dumbledore and Voldemort are having a wizard duel?" Sirius asked, although he kept his voice down, it was filled with ecstasy.

"If it is, there should be some noise at least. It sounded like there's no one up there." Remus said thoughtfully. He, like the rest of his friends, was looking around them for any traces of movement.

"No silencing charm or whatsoever. I think there's no one around." James had cast some reversal charms but had no effect on the surroundings.

"They should be around here?" After what felt like hours, a female voice was heard.

"Yes, they are down there." Another male voice replied.

"I must be paranoid. I thought I heard Moody's voice." Sirius mumbled to himself.

"Actually I thought I heard Moody's voice too." Remus admitted.

"You two must be in love with Moody." Stefanie said teasingly, although she was not feeling too well herself, managed to lighten the tension around.

BBBOOOOMMMMM! Suddenly there was an explosion above them.

"AAAHHHHH!" The five of them jumped and fell against one another in fright.

"_Reparo_." James put on his spectacles again. "What the hell was that?" Although it was relatively dark, they managed to see a humongous hole caused by the explosion.

"Someone is here to rescue us." Sirius exclaimed, jumping to his feet.

"Are you sure it's not caused by Voldemort during the wizard duel or something?" Remus asked suspiciously.

"Of course not. Are you kids coming up or what?" The male voice said in an impatient tone.

"How are we getting up-" Lily was about to ask before she realized that question sounded rather bimbotic. "Let's apparate up." With several cracking sounds, they reappeared again about ten meters higher than where they stood previously.

"Professor?" Lily and Stefanie caught sight of Professor McGonagall and Professor Plains.

X

"It's time to be on your guard now." Helen Potter advised. The five of them had been rescued from Voldemort's hideout two hours ago and were now safely in Potter's Manor. It was already morning by the time they came back and had to owl their respective bosses about their absence from work.

"There will be a third time." Sarah Plains said calmly. "It's not the end yet."

"Mother, what else will happen?" Arabella asked anxiously.

"Someone had made a prophecy some time ago. This prophecy will cause far more than death and betrayal." Plains looked like she wanted to inform the rest about the prophecy, but at the same time, she was holding back.

"Do you think you can reveal it?" Professor McGonagall requested although she knew what the answer was.

"_The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches... Born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies... And the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not... And either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives... The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies..." Plains closed her eyes and recited what she could remember._

_"What is that supposed to mean?" Sirius asked quizzically. The __six eighteen__-year-olds shared the same puzzled look._

_"It means the person with the power to defeat Voldemort has yet to appear, according to the prophecy that would be made in the future." Dumbledore concluded. The rest of them exchanged a dreading look._

_"This person will be born to the pair who defied him three times. Who could it be?" McGonagall queried._

_"The person is Harry Potter." Remus spoke out knowingly. Some of those in the room gasped in surprised. _

_"As in the former Minster?"__ Moody questioned, frowning slightly at the outburst of his trainee auror._

_"No, as in James and Lily's son."__ Dumbledore answered for Remus. At that point, Lily turned red with embarrassment._

_Oh Merlin. __Lily felt that all the eyes in the room were staring at her. She swallowed her saliva with a loud glup. __That was so embarrassing.__ She could feel her face turning as red as her hair._

_"Hey." James, who was sitting beside her, nudged her arm. "You okay?"_

_"Ya, I'm fine." Lily mustered her most genuine smile and looked up. She noticed that James was a little flushed as well but he seemed to be ignoring that._

_"So what are we supposed to do now?" James asked bluntly. Lily's face turned even redder than before, and shot James the horrified look._

_"Make Harry as soon as possible."__ Sirius blurted out. Everyone turned and stared at Sirius. Lily and James shot him a killer look while the others seemed to be amused by that solution. "Hey, I'm just speaking the truth." He said defensively._


	123. A Bad Feeling

**Chapter 122: A Bad Feeling**

"Sirius Edward Black! Are you out of your mind to suggest something as ridiculous as that!" Lily was yelling at Sirius the moment their professors left via the fireplace in their spacious hallway. After Sirius had came out with what he thought was the most brilliant solution, Lily glared at him pointedly. She was too fired up to say anything, besides the fact that her professors and her friends were all present in the room and she did not want to look immature.

Luckily, Dumbledore quickly said that it was getting late (although it was morning) and everyone was tired, so the professors left as soon as possible and the other adults left the room so as not to embarrass Lily further.

"You've got to admit that's it was the truth." Sirius said in an honest manner, backing away from Lily as she moved forward.

"Lily, calm down! Sirius was just kidding around." James held onto Lily's shoulders, preventing her from nearing Sirius. She looked like she was about to pounce onto Sirius if she was near enough.

"How can I?" Lily rarely flared up, and this was probably one of the few times. Her face was red with both anger and embarrassment and she was too stumped for any intelligent words. "He – he is out to embarrass me in front of everyone!" She glared at James for a moment; his hands left her shoulders instantly, and turned her attention back to Sirius.

"Lily, it's nothing really. I mean, since, you know, everyone knows that er.. someone will come into existence, and he, well, I think he will defeat Voldemort.. That would be saving everyone's life. It's really noble of you." Sirius was trying to pacify Lily while slowly backing away from her.

"AAAHHHH!" Lily screamed suddenly. At that moment there was a yellow glow emitted within her. Everyone just stared at Lily, looking shocked at the outburst and whatever magic she was performing. "This is terribleee!" The yellow glow seemed to enlarge and formed a spherical yellow glow surrounding her. And Lily did not seem to realize anything yet.

"Er.. Lily, you might want to calm down." James walked closer to Lily, trying to calm her down. _She might have some undiscovered magic within her that she didn't know. _"Lily, look at me." She was slouching down on a couch with her hands covering her face. "Lily, it's me, James." He tried to move closer but could not pass the protective sphere. Whenever he come in contact with the spherical force field, he felt like electricity going through his body.

"NOOO!" She sat upright again and suddenly the yellow protective sphere seemed to burst and sent everyone flying outwards.

"AAHHH!" Stefanie and Arabella screamed as they were thrown backwards all the sudden.

"OUCH!" All five of them were sent flying backwards, hitting against the wall and tapestries in the room.

"What the hell was there?" James muttered as he tried to sit upright, rubbing his back.

"Lily! What was that?" Arabella walked forward towards Lily. She looked up, for the first time, at her friend and leaned against her as she sat down. "What happened?"

"I'm totally pissed. And that was so embarrassing!" Lily mumbled, only loud enough for Arabella to hear.

"No dear, I didn't mean that." Arabella patted Lily's back. "I mean how did you send us flying backwards?"

"What?" Lily looked up for the first time, feeling confused. "I didn't do anything. My wand isn't even on my hand." Earlier as Moody and the rest were rescuing them, he had retrieved their wands from some Deatheaters and checked to make sure that they were okay before returning to the five teens. After all, he did not want the wands to burst into flames or something when they kept it in their back pockets. He always muttered about wands casting suspicious spells to the butts although no one had witnessed any scene like that before.

"You just emitted some yellow light and sent us all flying backwards. You didn't know that?" Arabella looked at Lily, who looked as confused as ever. "My back is aching now, care to heal me?"

"I'm sorry. I didn't know what I just did." Lily placed her hand over Arabella's back and immediately the pain and any possible bruises were gone.

"Stef!" Remus' shouts alerted the rest of them. Lily and Arabella dashed towards Stefanie's side. Instinctively Lily placed her hand over Stefanie, trying to heal her from her unconsciousness.

"Stef! Can you hear me?" Lily was moving both her hands back and forth above Stefanie. "I'm sorry. I didn't know what I just did." Stefanie stirred for a moment.

"That throw hurts, you know." Stefanie said weakly and mustered a smile for Lily.

"How are you feeling? I will feel terrible if anything happens to you." Lily looked as if she was about to cry.

"There's nothing you can't heal, right?" Stefanie managed to sit upright with Remus' support.

"Your pendant flickered." Lily caught a glimpse of the pendant on Stefanie's neck.

"I think it's just the light. Nothing's serious." Stefanie said in a very relaxed tone. Remus frowned at Stefanie's words. He had seen her pendant flickered earlier at St Mungo and he swore that it definitely was not a good sign.

"I saw it flickered earlier at St Mungo. Are you sure it's nothing? Maybe we should tell Dumbledore." Remus' said worriedly. His energy was draining off him as it was going to be a full moon night in about twelve hours.

"I'm fine. Don't worry about me." Stefanie tried to stand up, while Remus supported her. Lily helped her up as well knowing Remus was probably too weak to support her all the way.

"Sorry guys don't know what happened over me just now. I guess we better have some sleep. We're getting a little zoned out." Lily looked around at the tired and worried faces of her friends. Sirius was hiding behind James, keeping very quiet for the whole time, just to be on the safe side.

"Lily, let me." Arabella walked beside Lily. "You must be exhausted with all that outburst and energy consumption. James, why don't you escort Lily back to her room?" She nodded at James and he seemed to get the hint.

"C'mon Lily. You must be tired. Let Belle take her back. They'll be fine." James coaxed.

"But-" Lily resisted but James cut her off.

"Stef is only in the room next to yours. You will see her later on in the day. Let me tuck you to bed first." James ushered Lily along to the room next to Stefanie. Arabella entered into Stefanie's room supporting her all the way. Sirius had dragged Remus into the room opposite Stefanie so he can get some rest before his transformation.

"Tell me what happened just now." Lily kept her hands crossed in front as she turned to stare at James. He closed the door after him and walked closer to Lily.

"Let's talk about this tomorrow. You look terrible." James shoved Lily into her bed gently.

"Wait, I've yet to shower and change. Tell me first." Lily took a seat on the couch next to her.

"Why don't you shower first? I tell you later." James sat down opposite her, smiling and not saying anything else.

"How do you expect me to shower in peace while I know I had done something to Stef?" Lily snapped.

"I understand. But it's no use if I say now. I suggest you shower first and I promise to tell you what happened after that." James was refusing to say anything.

"Fine. You better keep that promise of yours." Lily stood up and went straight into the bathroom. The moment water could be heard splashing against the floor, James left the room. He knew Lily would take a longer time to shower them himself. So he might as well go for a quick shower at the same time. _Who knows I might be sleeping in her room tonight?_

X

"Are you alright?" Arabella asked worriedly the moment Stefanie's door closed behind her. "I know something is bothering you. You didn't want to let the others worried about you earlier, I can understand that. It's only me and you here, right now. Tell me about it." She supported Stefanie to the nearest couch.

"I don't know what's happening to me either. It's like I'm feeling weak all over. In fact I'm having some dizzy spells, not sure if I overworked or what." Stefanie shrugged, although the word 'worry' was written all over her face, literally.

"Remus and Lily mentioned that your pendant flickered, what's going on exactly?" Arabella asked further.

"I don't know either. It's like I'm feeling weaker and weaker by the day." Stefanie looked up. "I wonder if it might mean I'm going to die soon or something." She closed her eyes, preventing her tears from forming.

"If only I had my powers, then I would have known." Arabella muttered. "We've to tell the rest."

"No, what happened today was a close call for all of us. We don't even know how many casualties in St Mungo today. Lily had lots of things in her mind right now, and she's really confused and lost. Remus is transforming later tonight and he's not feeling too well. James and Sirius need their rest for later in the night. This will need to wait."

"I don't think they will want anything to happen to you either. Lily will not forgive herself if she believe what happened today was her fault. Neither will the rest of them. I'm going to call an emergency meeting with them here right now and this is serious." Arabella stood up.

"Belle, please. I don't think anything will happen to me in the near future." Stefanie said weakly. "Can we talk about this tomorrow instead?"

"Stef! This is _serious_. You don't think we're just going to sit here and wait till something happen to you, do you? We're your best friends, and we need one another, especially in times like this." Arabella was trying to convince Stefanie gently.

"I – but-"

"No more buts. You rest here. I'll get the rest over in a minute." Arabella made sure Stefanie was safely resting on the couch before leaving her room. All their rooms were adjacent and directly opposite one another so they could rush to one another's aid in case anything happened.

"Lily! Lily!" Arabella dashed out to the room next to Stefanie and started knocking. "James! This is urgent!" She banged on the room opposite Lily. "Sirius! Emergency!" After knocking the room on the left of James, she knocked on the door directly opposite Stefanie's room. "Remus! Open up!"

"What's going on?" Sirius opened the door; he looked as though he was sleeping and rudely awakened by the banging.

"Belle! What happened?" Lily dashed out of the room; water was still dripping from her hair after the shower.

"Something happened to Stef!" Arabella shouted loud enough for Sirius, who was the furthest to come dashing in.

"Stef!" Remus rushed into the room to Stefanie's side. "What happened to her?" He turned to ask Arabella, his face looked panic-stricken.

"Remus, it's nothing serious. I'm not feeling too well, that's all." Stefanie said softly. The small orange gem on her pendent flickered again.

"No! I'm getting Dumbledore here right away!" Remus stood up and scribbled something on the parchment. With a whistle, his owl flew in from the window immediately. "Take this to Dumbledore right away! It's urgent! Thanks!" After securing the parchment, his owl took off into the misty morning. Although it was already morning, it was gloomy and looked as if it was going to rain.

"Stef! I won't let anything happen to you!" Remus held onto Stefanie's hand tightly. By now all of them were gathered in the room, looking extremely worried.

"I'm sure there's something we can do to save her." Sirius exclaimed. "After all, we're supposed to have extraordinary powers." Lily was holding onto Stefanie's left hand while Remus on her right. She was trying her best to heal her best friend with all the concentration and powers but it was not helping much. "We've the power to change one's destiny and rewrite history, right?" James and Lily looked up at Sirius, thinking deeply. Remus, on the other hand, never left his eye contact from Stefanie's pale face.

"What can we do now?" James frowned. "Think! There must be something!" He thought, looking around for inspiration.

"I think we can transfer some of our powers to keep going while we try to think of something." Lily spoke up. "But I'm not sure if it works. Our powers are nearly there with all the constant practice, I think we can pass some to Stef to keep her going first."

"I don't know if that works. But it will definitely lower our current powers." James mumbled. "But that's our only hope for now. Let's do it!"

"Ok, concentration." Lily held her right hand tightly with Stefanie's left while grabbing James' hand with her left. All six of them held their hands and closed their eyes, concentrating fully on transferring magic over to Stefanie. They had to ensure not to pass her too much or it would be an overdose, while at the same time this would weaken all of them significantly if anything happened.

A swirl of glowing colors could be seen circulating among them, towards Stefanie's resting body. Her eyelids were moving a little while she breathed heavily all of a sudden. They had a tough day and not much energy was left within them to help Stefanie. After five minutes, they released their sweaty palms and opened their eyes.

"Stef!" Remus shook Stefanie's hand gently. "Can you hear me?"

"Yes." Stefanie smiled. "I feel better. Thanks for all your help! You guys better recuperate and get some sleep. I don't want to burden you all more than I've already did."

"Stef, I'm not leaving your side tonight." Lily told her. "Don't even think of saying no!"

"Yes, both of us will be keeping you company tonight as you rest!" Arabella added.

"I'm going to stay and make sure you're fine. How can I even sleep peacefully knowing that you're not feeling well?" Remus told her. He was looking frailer by the minute as he had not rest to prepare for his transformation that night.

"Guys thanks for the offer. James, Sirius, please ensure Remus get some rest. They can keep me company tonight. I don't want to see you looking like this. It pains me." Stefanie held out her hand to touch Remus' haggard face.

"I – I won't leave." Remus insisted although he knew that he would not win this argument.

"Moony." James started. "They're right. We need you to get your rest, and prepare for your transformation. We don't want you to overwork yourself now. We all need you to be able and healthy, in that way you can help Stef more than what you can do now."

"That's right." Sirius added. "Your powers are as important as any one of us and we need to make sure we won't be weakened regardless what happens. Do get some sleep. I'm sure they will take care of Stef well."

"See, Remus, I'll be fine. I see you tomorrow morning when you're back." Stefanie smiled. "Promise."

"Well – I guess so." Remus gave in, feeling defeated and a little frustrated. _Damn this werewolf transformation._

"Guys, take Remus back to his room. We'll be here all night." Lily told them. "C'mon, let us help you to your bed." Both girls supported Stefanie as she walked towards her bed.

"Good night. I love you." Remus gave Stefanie a lingering kiss on her lips before departing from the room along with James and Sirius shoving gently behind.

"Tell us the truth." Lily turned around and studied Stefanie's expression, trying to find out the truth. The guys had just left the room and they all knew that Stefanie would not tell the truth if the guys were around. The last thing she wanted was everyone to start worrying and fussing about her when there were more important matters on hand, like defeating Voldemort.

"Honestly, I don't know either." Stefanie sighed as she pulled her covers higher. She was sleeping in between Lily and Arabella in the king-sized four-poster bed. "As I've said earlier, I was starting to feel weaker by the day. Not sure why or how either. Could be work? Or perhaps my powers are weakening."

"Stef, you know that we'll never allow anything to happen to you if we can help it." Lily held Stef's right hand under the covers.

"Thanks. I really appreciate that. But I've got a bad feeling about this. I don't know why, woman's instincts or something." Stefanie looked distant; her eyes were not focusing anywhere in particular. Lily and Arabella stared at her.

"What makes you say that?" Arabella whispered almost inaudibly, choking a little due to the shock.

"It's a gut feeling. I just feel like I'm about to vanish from the face of this earth, just like that. But yet, I can't really explain. But I definitely believe the future has changed, not as the way Belle had predicted a long time ago. Although I can't remember what she had foreseen back then."

"You won't disappear!" Lily assured Stefanie. "We'll stay around until you recover."

"That's not the point. I got this strange feeling, perhaps what's muggle call reincarnation or something along that line. I felt like I'm going to reborn as someone else. The feeling I have is really confusing, I can't pinpoint it myself either." Stefanie closed her eyes and heaved out a loud sigh. "I'll take it as everyday is the last day of my life and I'm going owl all my friends and see them once last time."

"NO!" Both girls practically yelled.

"I'm sure Dumbledore will be able to come up with something." Lily suggested.

"What we've within us are very ancient magic beyond the wonders. No one really knows who we are, what we can do, or if we really exist in the first place. We're a mystery that can't be solved by other people but ourselves." Stefanie was sounding very philosophical at this point of time. "Of course Dark Arts are as mysterious, but our magic is wonders. We've the gift of unique kind of magic that are not common among magic folks. If we consider the bloodlines, it's quite untraceable now. I don't think both of you can understand how I truly feel, but I must say it's not exactly the best feeling around." Lily and Arabella kept quiet while letting Stefanie continued. "I could feel that my days are numbered as Stefanie Black. I'll reappear or reborn or whatever as another identity. My assumption is Voldemort had somehow done something on me that I don't know, and I can't exist as Stefanie Black for some reason or other anymore."

"Noo.." Lily somehow or rather started hugging Stefanie's arm unconsciously. "I don't want you to leave us."

"I don't know why but somehow I know we're all going to have a happy ending together." Stefanie said finally. "It's getting a little 'early', shall we sleep now?" Stefanie looked at her friends who were dumbfounded from her profound reasoning.

"Yeah, it had been a tiring day. Let's sleep." Lily agreed, trying to sound optimistic.

"Nitey." The three girls remained silence and fell into an uneasy sleep one after another.

X

"I'm not leaving your side today." Remus insisted. It was a full moon last night and the guys had just returned in the morning after Remus' transformation. Peter had came back to assist them in the usual transformation, and that's probably the only time they ever saw Peter, as a rat.

"It was terrible last night." Sirius started telling everyone. "Moony was so unlike himself. You could see worry written all over his eyes, his face, and even his furs." He sat down on one of the couches in Stefanie's room and slouched, looking totally tired. "He was wilder than the wildest beast and that was like the first time I ever saw him behaving like that. Can you imagine? He even managed to outrun us, for the first time. We had to run the whole night just to catch and tame him." Lily and Arabella exchanged a quick look and turned back to Stefanie.

"Ooh. You poor thing." Stefanie caressed Remus' pale and haggard face lovingly.

"I was so worried about you." Remus admitted. "The animal instinct in me felt very uneasy as if I could sense that something terrible will happen."

"Actually, he was not the only one who felt that." James added. He opened his eyes and looked intensely at the three girls who were sitting across him on Stefanie's bed. "I had that same feeling too."

"So did I." Sirius added quietly. James and Sirius exchanged a worried look. Animal instincts were usually very accurate, and all three of them having the same feeling were definitely a bad omen.

"Don't be silly." Stefanie gave a small laugh. "I'll be alright. Didn't Dumbledore say that yesterday?" Upon receiving Remus' owl yesterday morning, Dumbledore, McGonagall and Pomfrey had floo over for a visit to check out the situation. None of them could pinpoint what was wrong with her.

"But – but I don't know how to put it." Remus looked down. "I don't like the feeling that I'm having right now." His face was so tired and paled that he looked like he would collapse any moment due to overexertion.

"Lil, can you accompany downstairs to get some food?" Arabella looked at Lily and was trying to hint her.

"I'm not-" Lily paused as if she got Arabella's hint. "Yeah, let's go." Both girls stood up and pulled James and Sirius along despite their protests.

"I want to stay here." Sirius insisted.

"You stink. Can you please get a shower?" Arabella rolled her eyes since Sirius was totally oblivious to the most obvious hint.

"I do?" Sirius sniffed his shirt. "Oh yah, I really do." He muttered and stood up without a second question. Lily and Arabella turned to nod and Stefanie and left the rooms with the guys.

"Can you tell me what happened?" Remus started the moment he heard the door closed. "I'm really worried."

"Remus, listen. If anything really happen to me, you all must try your best to defeat Voldemort. Even though I'm not around physically-"

"No! I won't let you." Remus cut her sentence.

"Remus! Listen to me first." Stefanie said a little more forcefully. "If anything ever happen to me, or for some reason I'm not around, you all must be strong and defeat Voldemort by yourself. Remember that I reside in all your hearts and memories forever. I believe even if I vanished, this pendant will remain." Stefanie touched her necklace, the orange gem flickered again. "Keep this well, and give it to someone worthy of wearing this."

"I-"

"Listen first!" Stefanie interrupted. "This necklace is more than what it seems to be, whoever that wear it might exhibit my powers, though I'm not too sure of it myself either. Just keep it well. I recalled vaguely that Belle had foreseen some undesirable future. I believe your powers are more than what it appears to be. In any case if you felt that you can change the history to alter the future, do it. This part of present is not the part where we all want to be in, change it if you could, but not at anyone's expense." Remus nodded quietly.

"Don't talk as if you're going to leave me. I don't like it." Remus said in a very low voice.

"You can change the future, and you know it, Remus. If you find a way where we can have a happy ending, along with everyone else, go ahead. It might be the most absurd idea you ever have, but make sure everything is in control, and no one gets hurt. And defeating Voldemort is the main reason why we're all here."

"Yes, Stef, I'll remember that. Now, take a rest first. Don't overwork yourself. You need rest." Remus pushed Stefanie backwards gently.

"Thanks Remus. I love you and always will. If we could go through the whole life another time, I'll choose you again." Stefanie told him, a tear slid down her right cheek.

"I love you too. And I'll make sure that we'll have a happy ending together. Believe me." Remus wiped the tear off her cheek and pulled her close to him.


	124. Stefanie's Departure

**Chapter 123: Stefanie's Departure**

"I'm really worried about Stef." Lily admitted. James had dragged her out for a walk to get her mind off some worries. It had been three days since their narrow escape from Voldemort and Stefanie was not getting any better. They had to transfer some of their powers to her everyday to sustain her energy level. Dumbledore had informed their respective bosses about their temporary absence from work until further notice. After all, it would be traumatizing for anyone to be able to escape from Voldemort.

"Me too. But I'm sure she wants us to use our energy in a better area than worrying about the uncertainties." James said honestly. They were holding hands and walking along muggle London. Although it would not be a wise move, but at least James was keeping a lookout around. It was nearing two in the afternoon and the streets were packed with people who were out for lunch.

"Well, I guess you're right. Voldemort probably want us to lose focus on the more important matters." Lily mumbled inaudibly to herself. "Let's get some food, I'm famished." She said with sudden enthusiasm. James gaped at her for the instant change. "I need all the energy I've to deal with that stupid guy. Shall we go for some steak today?" Lily pointed at the steakhouse a few meters away from them.

"O-ok, sure." James agreed, since he did not know what else he should say.

X

"We can go back in time and kill of Tom Riddle before he becomes Voldemort. Doesn't that make things easier?" Sirius suggested. Arabella was out teaching while Sirius, Remus and Stefanie were having a light-hearted conversation in Stefanie's room.

"We should kill him when he's a kid. At least we can be sure he won't have any magical powers." Remus added.

"Let say the 'supposedly protector' had wanted to come down here to create havoc and attain fame and power, he could have reborn as someone else and not Riddle. It could have been anyone, it's just that, somehow or rather he had picked Riddle." Stefanie said reasonably.

"Riddle might be the last heir of Slytherin himself. And once he dies, Slytherin will be heir-less." Sirius joked. "Then Hogwarts will have only three houses."

"There won't be Snivellus for us to prank since he'll probably not be accepted to Hogwarts." Remus added. "Then Malfoy and his cronies would never cross our paths."

"And our main prank target would be Diggory." Sirius said and the three of them started laughing. "Not forgetting Crouch and Bagman as well. The Hufflepuffs sissies!"

"Then Porky would not be in Hogwarts and we would have a stunning babe as Potion Master, or Mistress." Stefanie teased.

"Yeah, a hot babe with long and wavy dark brown hair, beautiful sea-green eyes, petite and cute and-" Sirius listed. "Ouch!" A pillow hit his face before he could complete his sentence.

"Why do I have the idea that you're describing me?" Stefanie laughed.

"Aren't you being thick skin? There are a million girls out there who fit this description." Sirius pretended to defend himself. "You think you're a hot babe? Let me tell you, I, Sirius Black, one of the most eligible bachelors in this world don't think you are hot."

"Thank Merlin and all other gods for that." Stefanie joked and pretended to look really relieved.

"I definitely think you're the hottest babe around." Remus muttered, loud enough for Stefanie to hear. She gave out a soft giggle which did not managed to escape Sirius' eyes.

"What're you giggling at?" Sirius narrowed his eyes suspiciously looking back and forth at Remus and Stefanie.

"Nothing at all." Stefanie started laughing out loud. "Sometimes I just don't understand how the girls back in Hogwarts thought you are _hot_."

"Hey. I am _hot_ and _sexy_, alright? You're just jealous." Sirius looked away to add to the dramatic effect.

"Who's jealous of whom being _hot and sexy_?" Lily asked out of curiosity. James and Lily entered the room hand-in-hand. "I could hear you guys laughing from the entrance." Lily settled down on one of the couches near to Stefanie.

"They're jealous of me _being hot and sexy_." Sirius told them and to no one surprise, James and Lily burst into laughter together.

"Hey, that's insulting, you know." Sirius was pouting and pretended to be hurt.

"No one will be jealous of you for being hot and sexy coz they'll be too busy being jealous of me for the same reason." James said breezily as he settled himself comfortably into one of the armchairs adjacent to Lily's.

"James!" All of them shouted in synchrony.

"Just kidding." James grinned sheepishly and put up his hands in a surrendering motion. "But seriously-"

"It's Sirius without the '-ly'!" After so many years, no one would respond to this joke anymore.

"So where did you two gone to earlier?" Stefanie asked, totally not listening to Sirius' comment.

"Just for lunch at muggle London, that's all." Lily told them. "Nothing much." Stefanie nodded, satisfied with the answer.

"Hey!" Arabella walked into the room, her hair was looking a little windbrown.

"Yo!" All of them greeted her at the same time.

"Guess what happened?" Arabella asked with a mischievous twinkle in her eye.

"A tornado just blew passed you?" Sirius joked which earned him a glare from Arabella and shut him up.

"Sounds like something good." Lily smiled broadly.

"Yep! I've got a total pay rise of about 1000 galleons." Arabella told everyone.

"That's great news!" Stefanie hugged Arabella enthusiastically despite the fact that she was feeling weak all over.

"That's right! The parents of those rich brats – I mean kids – that I've been teaching were so happy with my way of teaching, especially in these dark times and everything, so all of them gave me 250 galleons more each." She said in satisfaction.

"That's awesome! And it calls for a celebration!" Lily jumped up and skipped towards the door. "I'll go to the kitchens and get some food up here right now."

"I'll go with you since you don't know what to get. You don't know what's good." James followed Lily out of the room while Lily's protests could be heard for another minute.

"Congrats! I'm so happy for you." Stefanie said sincerely. "You deserve that with all the extra effort you put in for them."

"Jeez, thanks! It was really unexpected for the sudden increase as well. The sum adds up to a lot." Arabella's wide smile never left her face.

"The rich kids that you all were saying somehow reminded us when we were younger though." Remus told Arabella. "Except that we had all the old and retire professors. Once in awhile when there's a younger teacher, it's really cool."

"Yeah, I remembered our tutor who taught us English. She's really pretty and looked something like Fion. Wonder what happened to her now." Sirius' voice drifted softer at the mention of Fion, who was still missing after so long.

"Ya, hope she's doing alright somewhere out there, and not in Voldemort's hands." Arabella whispered.

"Look what we got here!" James' voice broke their silence and they smiled at the positive interruption. Both of them looked genuinely happy for good times were now far and few.

"Homemade butterbeers too! Pizza! Crepes! Take your pick." Lily waved her wand and the food spread magically onto the enchanted coffee table, which was now the size of the dinning table.

"Yummy!" Sirius rubbed his hands together and took a big chicken drumstick which was directly in front of him.

"Seafood baked rice." Remus took a big scope of the baked rice and piled onto his plate. They were all eating heartily, chatting away, like the good old times. And this of course became one of their better memories together.

X

"Stef!" Lily shrieked. They had been chatting when suddenly Stefanie passed out and fell against Remus' shoulder. For the last whole week, they made sure at any one time, someone was by Stefanie's side, even at night when she was sleeping. And everyday, they had to transfer some of their powers to keep her going while they tried to figure out what was happening to their friend.

"Stef!" Remus put his arms around Stefanie to support her. "Wake up please!"

"Let's transfer some of our powers to her." Sirius suggested out of panic.

"But you all just transferred some to her an hour ago, will it be okay?" Arabella asked; her voice was filled with worry.

"Let's try to control and not transferring too much over." Lily interrupted before Sirius and Arabella could start bickering. She had an uneasy feeling and it was not a good sign.

"Don't delay. Belle, please call Dumbledore." James sat down with one hand holding Remus and the other one holding Lily. Instead of keeping their eyes closed, they were concentrating on Stefanie's expression, in case of overdose. Arabella, while keeping an eye on Stefanie, were writing hastily on a parchment and attached it to Lily's owl that was at the windowsill.

"Go straight to Dumbledore now. It's an emergency." Twinklebell gave a knowing hoot and flew out into the night sky.

"Stop." Stefanie mumbled weakly. "It's no use. I'm feeling weak all over."

"No! I won't let you die." Remus hugged Stefanie tightly but at the same time did not want to crush her bones since she was already fragile enough.

"Remus, I love you, and always do. Remember what I've told you." Stefanie whispered at Remus' right ear. He released her slowly and gently positioning her against the cushions.

"You all are my best friends and always will be." Stefanie's voice was weak and yet she said every word with passion. "I might be gone temporary but I know we'll meet again. Remember to find a way to change the past so that we can be reunited once more." They nodded silently. Lily and Arabella started crying while the three guys were fighting back their tears a little longer. "We can definitely change history for a better future." Remus was wiping the tears off her face while she continued speaking.

"Stef.." Lily and Arabella moved closer to Stefanie and held onto her hand tightly. "Please don't go."

"Live on well and don't forget the reason why we're here for." Stefanie reminded them gently. "There must be something we can do to avoid all these."

"STEF!" They shrieked together. Not only was she looking paler, she was turning translucent. They held onto Stefanie's hands even tighter.

Dumbledore was standing at the doorway, absorbing the scene before him as he slowly walked in. None of them had noticed their appearance yet and he did not want to interrupt their last few moments together. Despite his advanced levels of magical powers, there was nothing he could have done to prevent one of his favorite students from going. The magic that possessed within the six of them was far beyond anyone's knowledge.

"I must go soon. Remember I love all of you and you'll always be in my heart." She was turning more transparent with the passing seconds and only her necklace looked as solid as before. "We'll meet again soon." The orange gem on the necklace was losing its shine and flickered again.

"Stef! No!" The hands they were holding onto were now nothing but an empty mist. "Professor! Help!"

"Goodbye. Till we meet again." Stefanie's tears glistened in the light as her body faded into the surroundings. The necklace she was wearing previously fell onto the sofa with a 'tug' and she was gone.

"NO!" Remus shouted and fell against the sofa, totally defeated. James and Sirius stayed by his side and patted his shoulders comfortingly.

"No." Lily whispered as she picked up the heart-shaped pendant Stefanie was just wearing a few minutes ago. She held onto it tightly while both girls were hugging each other and sobbed.

"Professor." James acknowledged the presence of Dumbledore.

"Why didn't you save her? Professor, why didn't you?" Remus raised his voice at Dumbledore.

"There's nothing I can do to prevent that." Dumbledore closed his eyes in remorse and lowered his head. "What happened was beyond me." All of them were staying in the room but yet no one spoke for a long time. Lily and Arabella were sitting close together on a two-seater sofa. James and Sirius held Remus up to the chair where he was sitting together with Stefanie many minutes ago. It was the first time anyone of them had seen Remus crying. While Dumbledore sat silently in another chair, deep in his thoughts with occasional tears that escaped from his eyes.

Helen Potter was passing by the hall, she knew what had happened. It reminded her too much of her husband's death and missing daughter. She walked away silently, crying for her decreased husband, for her missing daughter, and for a girl who was like her second daughter.

X

Things had never been the same around Potter's Manor. Every time after a death, or sudden departure, of a loved one, the house would get more lifeless and gloomy.

"Remus." Lily said gently. "You need to eat something." She scooped some of Remus' favorite food into his plate.

"We need you here. Please don't torture yourself." Arabella touched his shoulders.

"Thanks. But I'm not hungry." Remus mumbled nearly inaudibly. It had been three days since Stefanie had gone. Remus was devastated and he was looking more pale and haggard than ever, with dark eye rings and unkempt hair. "I'm going back to my room." He stood up but James and Sirius held him down again.

"Take a bite." James picked up a sausage and shoved it into his mouth. Remus opened his mouth automatically and took a bite of it. Everyone was watching him chewing his food and swallowing it before James continued feeding him. They kept quiet throughout as not to disturb Remus' thoughts. This was probably the first time he ate something since that fateful day.

"Open your mouth." Sirius ordered. Remus opened his mouth obediently and Sirius fed him with a spoonful of mashed potatoes. The two guys continued feeding Remus with food for another twenty minutes or so and Lily and Arabella took over from them.

"Open your mouth." Lily said gently and fed Remus some carbonara penne pasta. They were trying to feed him with a wide variety of food since he had not eaten in nearly three days. At the same time, they had to pick the simple and less messy food because Remus, although chewing and swallowing, looked rather spaced out.

"Open your mouth." Arabella fed Remus with a spoonful of mushroom soup. It was really strange to see them feeding Remus because it was unlike him to lose his sanity. They had all grieved over Stefanie's departure, but Remus was taking it the hardest. She was one of the reasons why he was who he became today. Moreover, they shared a special bond when Remus saved her from the werewolf when they were kids.

"Drink this." After another fifteen minutes of feeding, Lily fed Remus with a goblet of pumpkin juice using a newly conjured muggle straw. Remus drank it subconsciously and finished the whole cup.

"Let's go outdoor." James suggested and the rest nodded in approval.

"I'll get back to my room first." Remus mumbled and turned towards the direction of his room.

"No hurry." James steered Remus back to their original direction. "Just a quick walk." James nodded to Sirius and he took over from James to usher Remus outdoor while he held Lily back. Arabella stayed with them to see what James got to say.

"Remus is not looking well at all. He's terrible and I've never seen him looking like this before." James shook his head. "I think we need to do something."

"First we need to make sure he gets some sleep. He must be getting nightmares every night." Lily said. For the past two nights, James and Sirius took turns to stay with him in his room just to play safe. According to them, he barely slept and woke up every other hour with nightmares haunting him or mumbling in his sleep looking very uncomfortable.

"At first I thought he would be okay, but judging from just now. I think he might take a longer time than that." Arabella said in a low voice. By now Sirius and Remus had walked at least fifty meters away from them. They followed behind and discussed about what to do about Remus.

"We can get some sleeping draught from Pomfrey. I don't think our charms will be able to work on him, or at least we need some very very advanced and complicated charms." Lily said. "I supposed we can ask Pomfrey to come and take a look at him."

"I can be sure that Remus will not want to see anyone. Not even Dumbledore when he came yesterday." James told them. Dumbledore had come to see them every day to check how they were coping with everything. Apparently Remus had been hiding in his room, refusing to see even Mrs. Potter. James and Sirius had to barge into his room several times before he allowed their presence. In fact it was only when the two guys levitated Remus to the dinning hall where Lily and Arabella had seen him for the first time after three days.

"We can make a trip to Hogwarts and ask her what we can do." Lily suggested. James and Arabella nodded and felt that it was the only way, judging from current situation.

"We should get going now, in fact." James agreed; the whole situation was depressing enough without Remus adding into their stress level.

"Be back as soon as possible." Arabella said worriedly. "Sirius and I can only keep him for that while." Remus had been reluctant to do anything or face anyone longer than necessary.

"We promise." Lily nodded firmly and they went on different directions. Arabella dashed forward towards Sirius and Remus' direction while walking behind them closely. James and Lily dashed towards the Entrance which was the only place where they could apparate out. Holding hands, they nodded in silence and disapparated from Potter's Manor with two 'pops'.

"Whew." Lily made a sound of relieved when both appeared safe and sound at the gates to Hogwarts.

"Let's go." James and Lily rushed straight towards the Hospital Wing where Madam Pomfrey would be. They had been there regular enough to know the location by heart. Within ten minutes of brisk walking, they stopped at the entrance of the Infirmary, catching their breath.

"Hi, Madam Pomfrey." Lily knocked the door and popped her head in to take a look. There was no one in sight and they walked into, looking around at the familiar beds and furnishings where the group of friends had shared in the last seven years.

"It's like we'll never get to stay here again." James commented.

"Honestly, it had never been my dream to stay in here." Lily gave a small laughed at James' brainless comment.

"I don't mean that." James smiled. "It's like, you know, we've so much memories here. Not that they were good ones, but at least the more memorable ones."

"I know what you mean. Just that I don't particularly fancy staying in the Ward more than necessary as much as I love Madam Pomfrey." Lily laughed at the thought. She had stayed in this very room for several times in her school years, and those were not the best of memories.

"I heard someone calling me." Madam Pomfrey entered the room, smiling at the two graduated students. "What brings you two here?"

"Hi Madam Pomfrey." Both of them greeted her together, their school nurse still looked exactly the same. In fact she looked almost the same throughout their entire school life. She often joked that the lines on her face were mainly caused by the Marauders and not of age.

"You look exactly the way I remembered you." Lily said politely. "In fact we're here to request for some Sleeping Draught."

"Sleeping Draught?" Madam Pomfrey raised her brows for a moment. "For Remus?" She frowned at the thought. "The poor boy."

"Ya, it's for him. He had been haunted by nightmares ever since-" James felt that it was unbearable to continue his sentence.

"I understand." Madam Pomfrey said in a low voice. She had known all six of them personally and it saddened her whenever anything happened to anyone of them. "I get you both the Sleeping Draft and Draught of Peace. Two capped vials of potions flew towards her right hand. "I think you might want to keep the Draught of the Living Dead aside a well." Another smaller vial flew out from the drawer beneath. "No more than ten drops of this two in a goblet full of water." She handed the two bigger vials to James. They nodded. "And this," Madam Pomfrey said in a sober manner. "One drop is enough to knock out a person for more than twelve hour. Of course this is much stronger and don't use it unless absolutely necessary."

"Yes, Madam." Both of them nodded to the Pomfrey's instruction.

"Alright, keep it well then." She smiled encouragingly at them. "Maybe you might want to stop by Dumbledore's office to update him on the situation."


	125. Unexpected Turn

**Chapter 124: Unexpected Turn**

"How's Remus doing?" Lily asked softly the moment James and Sirius stepped out of Remus' room at half past ten.

"Sound asleep." James smiled. They had tried to dope Remus with the Sleeping Draught the night before, which was the same day when James and Lily got it from Pomfrey. But Remus was too smart for them, he refused to eat or drink anything from anyone. And of course, needless to say, he was haunted by nightmares again. The two guys contemplated trying to drop a few drops into his mouth while he was asleep, but Remus' mouth was closed firmly without a slit.

"We had such a hard time inside." Sirius dramatized. He wiped his forehead with the back of his palm as if he had been doing some laborious work inside.

"It was pretty tough." James admitted. "But today he drank it up willingly."

"We were just drinking butterbeers.." Sirius started. The two girls stared at him wide-eyed. "Don't give me that look. This is a non-alcoholic version, something like butterbeers de-beered."

"Specially prepared by the house elves earlier." James boasted. "Thanks to our brilliant minds to think of something like that."

"Surprisingly it tasted exactly the same, except without the after taste. I could barely tell the difference between the real and the fake." Sirius chimed in. "You ought to try this." He held up the half-filled jar out and conjured two goblets out of thin-air. "C'mon, give it a try." Lily and Arabella eyed Sirius and the goblets suspiciously.

"Don't worry. It's not drugged." James laughed at the reaction of the two girls.

"Don't you girls trust me?" Sirius asked innocently.

"No!" Both of them answered at the same time and started laughing, spilling some of the butterbeer in their goblets.

"Take it as I never asked." Sirius mumbled.

"Alright, I drink this two first and pour another one for you." James took Lily's goblet and drained the content into his mouth before pouring another gobletful for her, and followed by Arabella's goblet.

"If anything out of the ordinary happens, you two are going to get it from us tomorrow." Lily warned them jokingly and they took a small sip of the de-beered butterbeers.

"Nice." Arabella nodded and finished up the remaining up.

"Ya, taste just like Rosmeta's butterbeers." Lily agreed and drained her goblet of butterbeers. "Yummy."

"See, I told you so." Sirius smirked. "The result of not trusting me will be," Sirius drank up the remaining half jar of butterbeer. "Not getting any more of this." He gave an evil laughter.

"Hey!" Lily and Arabella whined.

"I thought we put a refillable charm on it?" James asked. "But I supposed you must have removed it."

"Of course. That's genius mind at work." Sirius walked off towards his bedroom, leaving the empty jar on one of the corridor tables for the house elves to clear up.

"I guess that's good night then." Lily shrugged. "Rest well, I see you all tomorrow." She touched James' arm lovingly as they parted.

"Good night." James gave Lily a kiss on her forehead before entering his bedroom opposite hers.

"Lovey dovey." Arabella giggled. "Good night." She turned and went into the room next to Lily.

_Another end of the day._Lily sighed in relief that nothing unfortunate had happened to them that day. Everyday was filled with uncertainties. She looked over at the other room on her left, Stefanie's old bedroom, and gave another sigh. _If someone told me one month ago Stefanie would just vanish into thin air, I probably wouldn't believe that person. But now.._ She entered her bedroom and closed the door behind her. _I must find the way to reverse the history._ She said aloud in determination and walked straight towards her bed. Within five minutes of lying down, she fell into a deep sleep.

X

"Guys, thank you so much." Remus said gratefully. "I've been really awful in the last two weeks." He looked down on the floor.

"Don't worry about it. We understand." Arabella said softly, touching his forearm.

"We're so glad to have our old Remus back." Sirius was literally jumping in joy.

"You must be hungry. Let's go for dinner." Remus had just come out of his room. He had locked himself inside for the entire day skipping both breakfast and lunch.

"Ya, quite a bit." Remus grinned, the first smile since the attack at St Mungo.

"You look so old and haggard." Sirius was telling him. "To think that once upon a time you were the second best looking guy in Hogwarts." He shook his head.

"Don't tell me you are the best looking guy in Hogwarts." Remus replied. "I might puke before I even get to eat." The rest of them laughed, at both his joke as well as Remus' recovery.

"That's my Remus." James patted his best friend's back. They settled down at the round dinning table with several plates of food in their middle.

"Hey mum, aren't you joining us?" James asked when Helen Potter walked passed the dinning room. She joined them for meals at least once a week, for the rest of the time; she went to catch up her old friends and relatives. In these dark times, you never know when would be the last meeting.

"I'm going to meet up with some old friends from Hogwarts." Helen told them. "Remus, you look much better today." She nodded approvingly.

"Thanks for your concern, Mrs. Potter." He beamed. Although the hurt was still deeply embedded in them with the lost of their loved ones, they knew they had to move on. To find the solution in creating a life they always wanted.

"Take care of one another." Helen smiled at all of them. "Don't forget to practice your powers. Who know there might be more hidden powers?" She said in a joking manner. The rest looked rather sheepishly at her sudden reminder for they had not been practicing their powers for some time. With that, Mrs. Potter left the five of them and went out of the dining hall.

"Talking about powers, since when do you know how to teleport, or was that called apparation?" Sirius asked James suddenly.

"I don't know what exactly it is, but that for sure didn't felt like apparating to me." James commented. "You know that usual apparating feeling? It's different. It's like I can just appear somewhere suddenly. No feeling of being sucked away or something like that sort."

"You mean you can just move away from one spot to another?" Arabella asked curiously.

"Something more likely to be subconscious reaction. If I stayed at the same spot, I would have been – you know – but it's like I just blink my eyes and I appeared in the next spot." James shrugged. "I seriously don't have a clue on how that works."

"Point taken to ask Dumbledore when we see him." Lily reminded. Although there had been many questions that Dumbledore were not able to give them an answer, he had been the wisest wizard they known forever.

"Oh, and there is Lily's protection shield." Arabella spoke as if she suddenly remembered something important.

"Yeah, what's going on that day for you? Don't you realize that it's considered quite rude to throw someone defenseless against the wall for absolutely no reason at all?" Sirius reprimanded in a joking way.

"Jeez, I don't know either." Lily frowned. "Arabella was talking about it. And it's like I really did something that day, like creating some sort of magical shield. But I don't remember doing it." She scratched her head. "I wasn't even sure what have I done."

"But if you could have cast a protection shield, you could have done it back then at St Mungo." James reasoned.

"That's true." Remus pointed out. "But I don't think it was created due to powerful emotions. I mean we have been through more ordeals than Sirius' teasing, it can't be something so mild to create a protective shield with such great impact."

"Or perhaps you've been keeping a lot of things to yourself, and suddenly like explode or something." Arabella added.

"I never keep anything to myself. I tell you all practically everything." Lily admitted. "I mean I share everything with you and.. Stef." She paused for a moment before mentioning Stefanie's name again. All of them turned subconsciously to check out Remus' reaction.

"Don't look at me like that." Remus held out both hands defending himself. "I'm fine. Trust me." He gave his most assuring smile. Although deep down, the hurt was still there.

"Sorry guys. I don't really have a clue on this." Lily mumbled. "But Remus, hope you're okay with this." She paused to see Remus' reaction. "If you've been traveling to the future and all these, wouldn't you be able to foresee what's going to happen?"

Remus nodded. "Yes to some extent. Actually this is quite a long explanation to it, something I figured out, not sure if you guys understand it." He looked around at his four friends.

"Try us." Sirius urged encouragingly.

"It all rounds down to freewill. We've the freedom of choice. The decisions we made, the actions we took three years ago, had directly or indirectly created an impact on the happenings today. For example, if today we make a decision like going to move house, three years later we'll be staying in somewhere else. Which if considering yesterday, we did not make this decision or take any action, we will still be here in three years time. You guys get what I'm trying to say?" Remus held eye contact with each of them for a few moments.

"So it means that the decisions we make everyday will alter the future of everyday. And every time you go forward in time, situation and circumstances change." James said thoughtfully.

"Yes, along this line." Remus nodded. "Including people that I meet in the future."

"Oh. So does that mean Voldemort's existence could be created by something many years ago before that?" Arabella asked. "It's like he will appear somewhere in time, but it's a matter of where."

"Yes to that answer too. That's why we're in the picture. Some people believe in reincarnation. And the people you meet at every incarnation are the same. If we had any previous lives, we must have been related in some way or another too." Remus added. "This is my assumption, as I never seen us in past or future lives. However, I felt like I sensed some others. Its groundless assumptions, just my instincts tell me so."

"That means no matter what happens, Voldemort is meant to be doing evil out there and we're definitely here to stop. It's a question of how to defeat him?" Lily asked.

"I thought of that too." Remus analyzed. "But there's some part of the puzzle that I can't fit into place. I don't know how to explain it either. It's like the big picture is not completed yet."

"Don't force yourself too hard." Arabella patted him on his shoulders. "I'm sure you can figure that out someday."

Just then an owl flew into the dinning room, stopping just beside Lily.

"That's Joey's owl." Lily took the note and read it. The owl flew off without waiting for a reply.

_Dearest Lily,_

_How are you girls doing so far? Life's been hectic for me and Samantha. I miss Hogwarts so much! Especially the time when the four of us used to stay together until Belle left us. Send our regards to her too._

_We were thinking of meeting up for dinner one of these days. With all these uncertainties, we don't know when we might see one another again. Make it this Saturday lunch at Hogsmeade Three Broomsticks? Do ask Belle too!_

_Lots of Love,_

_Jo & Sam_

"Erm.. is it just me or did they never mention a single thing about Stef?" Lily held up the parchment for the rest to see.

"You're right." Remus frowned. "They talk as if Stef hasn't existed."

"I wonder why." Lily mumbled and thought about the possibilities. "It's impossible for them not to mention about Stef."

X

"It has been such a long time!" The girls were busy hugging one another. Lily and Arabella were early for their lunch appointments and settled themselves at an isolated corner in Three Broomsticks.

"I miss you two so much!" They were ecstatic to see their old roommates again. It's such a nostalgic feeling. "Let's order some food, we're getting hungry." Lily shoved the menu to the two of them.

"Our Lily is always talking about food." Joey laughed and started reading the menu.

Lily shot a glance at her two roommates and exchanged a look with Arabella. _How come both of them didn't mention a single thing about Stef? Don't they remember her? We were like roommates together for seven years! _She was trying to find some topic to bring Stefanie into the conversation.

"So have you met any of our old Gryffindors?" Arabella shot the question first.

"Not much, we met a couple of our seniors at Ministry." Samantha said, not looking up from the menu. Both Joey and Samantha were working in the research department for the Ministry, which the contents were highly confidential.

"I settle for a chicken mayo sandwich and chocolate milkshake." Lily closed the menu. "So have you two heard anything from Stefanie?" She tried to ask the question as casually as possible.

"Stefanie who?" Joey frowned. She did not remember anyone by that name.

"Stefanie Black?" Lily answered, looking a little confused.

"Was there someone by that name when we attended Hogwarts?" Samantha looked up and asked.

"May I take your order, please?" A waitress came up to them and asked politely. They gave their orders and resumed conversation almost as quickly.

"As in Sirius' cousin or something?" Joey asked.

"Erm, I thought we had a Gryffindor by that name?" Arabella interrupted.

"Honestly, I don't remember." Samantha looked genuinely puzzled. "Is there something about her?"

"I thought she was a popular girl in school and dated Remus." Lily pretended to look a little blur.

"Hey, I didn't know about that." Joey exclaimed. "I didn't even notice Remus dating anyone in school. We thought he was gay or something."

"Of course not." Lily gave a small laugh. "I just thought you two might remember her."

"Sorry Lils, no recollection." Samantha told her. "Maybe we can ask around our schoolmates when I see them?"

"It's okay, nothing much about that anyway." Lily shrugged it off. Now both Lily and Arabella looked positively baffled at the current situation. Her roommates did not remember Stefanie at all.

"Pity she wasn't our roommate then." Joey commented. The food and drinks were served together by the waitress again. "Otherwise we might just have an awesome together. It's like Gryffindor only had four guys and four girls for our batch."

"There were only eight of us?" Lily asked again.

"Yeah, then after Belle left, there's only seven of us." Samantha said in between her food. "It's like so boring just having the three of us in the dormitory. Although it's quite private and peaceful, the girlie stuffs that we do aren't as fun as having all five of us."

"Ya, true true." Lily frowned and suddenly concentrated very hard on her food.

"Lils, you okay?" Joey asked in concern.

"Of course I'm fine." Lily said brightly. "So when was the last time you visited Hogwarts?"

X

"No! Not at all!" Arabella exclaimed.

"They didn't remember her at all!" Lily added. They had just got back from their lunch with Joey and Samantha and were filling the guys with the news.

"Did Stefanie's disappearance remove her existence?" Remus asked out of the blue.

"I don't know, but I felt like it seems to others that she never existed in the first place." Lily whispered. "How could it be?"

"It's possible." Sirius' commented suddenly. "Anything is possible. Stef's departure must have brought all her existence and memories from everyone else too. There must be something we can do to change this."

"Any other possibilities?" James asked. "How about asking Dumbledore?"

"I agree with Sirius."

"Professor!" They exclaimed together. Dumbledore always seemed to appear at the time whenever they mentioned about him.

"No one else but us remember Stefanie." Dumbledore said grimly. "Not even Minerva or Poppy." He shook his head.

"Then how are we going to bring her back if no one else even remembers she existed?" Remus asked in deep concern.

"That's another puzzle I can't solve." Dumbledore said softly. "But I know we really have to pull ourselves together. With one force missing, we're significantly weakened." They looked at each other, in unexplainable expressions. Confusion, hatred, loss, and a mixture of both positive and negative emotions.

"I think you two should really get married." Remus said suddenly.

"W-What?" Lily spluttered.

"Why?" James asked.

"I don't know. I think you two should get married and have a kid or something." What Remus said was totally illogical and irrational to James and Lily at this point of time.

"We've something more urgent and important or hand and Remus, our rational one, is talking about something totally irrelevant." James blurted out.

"Actually I agree with Remus." Dumbledore said softly, winking at Remus.

"I'm going to be the best man for the wedding." Sirius self-declared. By now, James and Lily were blushing furiously and not looking at each other.

"Of course I want to be your bridesmaid. Lils, you are going to ask me, right?" Arabella chirped in. The mood at the hall seemed to have brightened many more times than it had in the past few weeks.

"Prongs, what are you waiting for?" Sirius urged James who was looking all loss of words and confused.

"B-But I'm not ready." James defended. "I'm like only eighteen!"

"Er.. I think I better get out of her for a moment." Lily stood up and left the room as quickly as possible and making a quick dash to her bedroom. _This is crazy! This is crazy! Everyone is mad!_

"James, what are you waiting for?" Arabella stood up in front of James.

"What am I supposed to do?" James asked in his most innocent look.

"Propose to her!" All three of them shouted together while Dumbledore was smiling behind.

"But I'm not ready for something like marriage. Can we talk about this another time?" James pleaded.

"No. What if tomorrow never comes? Like me and Stef?" Remus told him.

"But.. I don't have a ring or flowers or anything." James tried to find excuses to get out of this topic. He contemplated making a dash to the room or toilet but Sirius and Remus were standing in a position which was almost ready to pin him down if there was a need to.

"Now you do." Remus took out a red velvet box of with a glittering diamond ring in it.

"That's dubious object. It could be a portkey or something." James argued.

"No, it's not. I brought it from muggle shop Tiffany and Co., meaning to give to Stefanie one day. But now I don't think I need it anymore." Remus explained and suddenly he looked almost back to the day after Stefanie's departure.

"Stef will be back. You can give it to her next time." James tried to buy time to avoid a messy topic like this.

"I know by then I will buy her another one." Remus grinned, suddenly his sadden look was replaced by a cheeky look.

"So..?" Sirius went closer to James, holding his shirt collar as he spoke. "Are you going to do it now?"

"I-I need er.. flowers." James tried to escape but was pinned down by his two friends again.

"There you go." Sirius waved his wand and a beautiful bouquet of white lilies appeared on James' lap.

"So do you need anything else?" Remus asked as he shoved the red velvet box into James' hand.

"Erm.. I need time to think about it."

"What do you mean by you need time?" Arabella said. "Haven't you two been dating like forever?"

"If anything happens to Lily, you'll regret why you didn't do it today. The way I am regretting right now." Remus stood up, letting go of James. "Let's not force him."

"If you're not proposing to her today, I'm going to ask for her hand in marriage tomorrow." Sirius released James collar and left with Remus. Arabella and Dumbledore followed and left the hall quietly, leaving James to make the decision himself.

_Should I? Or should I not? Am I ready for this big M commitment?_ James thought as he sat dumbly on the chair, not moving and thinking carefully.


	126. Will You Marry Me?

**Chapter 125: Will You Marry Me?**

_Jeez. Will James ask or will he not? _Lily was pacing around the room, her face was still red from the earlier embarrassment. _Not that I'm dying to get married or what. Just that we're only eighteen and there's a long way ahead for us._ Sighing, she sat down on the right side of her bed in frustration. _Heck! Just take one step at a time. _Finally deciding to stop feeling all tensed up, she climbed into bed and hoping that by tomorrow morning everything will be over. She had been thinking about it for about at least fifteen minutes before deciding to let nature take its course. _Ya__ tomorrow will be better._ She mumbled repetitively, closed her eyes and tried to sleep.

X

_What should I do? _James looked at the bouquet of lilies and ring in front of him. He was all alone in the hall, immersed in his own thoughts. _Do I want to marry Lily? Am I ready? This is a scary question! _He stood up, but sat down again, since he could not decide what to do. _Never mind, think about it tomorrow. _He got up again and started heading towards his room. As he walked past Lily's bedroom, he slowed down his pace, staring at the closed door. _Never mind, I'll ask tomorrow._ He heaved a sigh of relief at his decision and made his way to the room.

"So how was it?" Sirius asked the moment James' entered the room.

"Did I enter the wrong room?" James looked around. "Hey, this is _my _room. What are you two doing on _my_ bed?"

"Aren't you spending your time in Lily's room?" Sirius asked cheekily grinning away.

"Don't tell us that you never even ask her!" Remus sat up and glared at James.

"I-I ask her tomorrow." James put down the bouquet and ring on the table and walked straight into the room.

"Not so fast." Sirius and Remus exchanged a wink. Then they jumped off the bed instantly and grabbed onto each of James' arms.

"What are you two trying to do?" James was being dragged out of his room, and along the way they shoved the flowers and box onto his hands once again.

"To tie a knot." Remus answered with a smile. James was too flustered to catch the meaning behind the phrase. Then with a swing they sent him backwards towards Lily's door. Luckily he managed to stabilize himself without crashing into Lily's room.

"Do you want us to knock for you or you do it yourself?" Sirius bent forward and asked in a very soft voice. Lily would be able to hear them clearly if they were making a din in the hallway.

"No, it's ok." He held out his hands in a surrendering gesture. "I'll do it myself." James mumbled inaudibly and feeling rather defeated. He dragged himself closer to Lily's door and stood there, in a loss of words.

Just then, a loud banging sound could be heard on Lily's door. James turned around and saw Sirius' and Remus' heads sticking out from a small gap in his bed room.

"What are you two trying to do?" James turned around and hissed at his two smirking friends.

X

BANG! BANG! BANG!

"Woah! What's going on?" Lily bolted upright on her bed. She was nearly asleep when the loud banging sound came about.

BANG! BANG!

"Coming!" Lily shouted. "Jeez, who is knocking the door so loudly at night?" She opened the door and heard the door opposite hers shut with a slam. James was standing at the doorway with a bouquet of flowers. "What's going on?" She scratched her head in puzzlement.

"Can we talk inside?" James blushed as he said those words. "Erm, sorry about the knocking. It was Sirius."

"Haha, I think only he is capable of doing that kind of deafening bangs." Lily was still hugging onto her pillow as she sat down on the edge of her bed. "So what's up?" She was too sleepy to notice that James had performed a silencing charm in the room, non-alohomora locking charm, anti-apparation protection charm, and privacy charm with his hands. Last but not least, he cast alert charms by the door and windows to prevent any possibility of being eavesdrop, which his friends were famous for.

"Erm." James paused, thinking what he should do next. He walked closer and handed Lily the bouquet of flowers, and showing her the ring. "Will you marry me?"

"What!" Lily thought she was hearing things and woke up in a shock.

"I asked, will you marry me?" James repeated, sounding a little gentler.

"Why so sudden?" Lily questioned. It was unlike James to do something like that.

"I don't know. I supposed I want to." James admitted. "You don't know what happened to me after you left just now." He sat down on the bed beside her.

"What happened?" Lily was now very awake to hear the joke which she was part of the victim. James started telling her the details, until the part he was being threatened in his own bedroom. At the end of it, Lily was laughing so hard that her face was turning quite red. "That's so funny! I can totally imagine what happened." Lily was still laughing as she spoke. "Poor fella. Being forced to do things he don't want to."

"Well, I-" James started.

"It's okay. I'll try not to embarrass you tomorrow morning." Lily interrupted. "Sorry but that was really funny to hear." She ruffled his hair for awhile. "It's time you get back to sleep."

"I've been kicked out from my own room and I know Sirius and Remus will not allow me in if I don't ask." James spoke as if he had forgotten the real mission of entering Lily's room.

"Okay, you've asked. Feel free to sleep on the couch or you can just conjure a mattress on the floor." Lily climbed into the bed again.

"Actually if I ask, will you agree?" James leaned forward moving closer to Lily who was now lying down.

"Huh?" Lily was a little surprised at the sudden change of tone. "Hmm.. I don't know. We're still so young and everything. Not ready, I supposed."

"Actually this ring belongs to Remus. He wanted to ask Stef to marry him ever since we graduated, but he always felt that the time is not right or they were not ready. And now.." James stopped; Lily could guess the following part of the story. "It's quite sad to hear about that. Remus never told us about this."

"I'm sure if he had asked, Stefanie would have agreed immediately." Lily thought of her best friend, and tried to imagine her reaction.

"How about you?" James reverted the question back to her.

"I don't know. I don't think I'm ready. And I know you're not ready for commitments and things like that as well." Lily said rationally. It was true that this was a little sudden for both of them.

"But I'll try my best and be the best husband I can." James spoke with such honesty that Lily found it a little irresistibly touching.

"I don't think I-" Lily started.

"I'll help you. But do you really want to marry me?" James persisted.

"I-" Lily paused and thought really hard about it while avoiding James' gaze.

"Well, it's okay. I won't force you to do things you don't want to do." James sat upright again, looking crestfallen, after a full minute of silence from Lily. Her expression was unreadable, and it looked like she was having an internal debate.

"I actually don't mind." Lily said, gazing straight into his hazel eyes.

"You mean..?" James looked hopeful. He had no idea why he suddenly wanted Lily to say yes. Maybe it was to his male's ego, or perhaps that was his true desire.

"Yeah, why not give it a try?" Lily beamed at him.

"Really?" James took out the ring and held out Lily's left hand. "No regrets?" Lily shook her head, and he inserted the ring into Lily's fourth finger. "I don't know why, but I'm really glad you said yes." He hugged her very tightly.

"Well, you sure you won't regret? That's a whole lot of responsibility and commitment, ya know?" Lily was hugging him back while looking at the new ring on her left ring finger.

"No, I won't. If I don't marry you, no one else will." He joked.

"Hey! I'm very desirable, okay."

X

"Can you hear anything?" Remus whispered. The three of them were now cramming outside Lily's room door trying to hear the conversation going on inside.

"I bet James' must have did some charm on this door." Sirius stood up. "Shall we go by the window?"

"Why don't we try apparating in?" Remus asked a very rational question. "At least it's safer than trying to climb in by the windows."

"That's a bloody brilliant idea." Sirius agreed totally. "Why didn't I think of it sooner?"

"That's because you're a no-brainer." Arabella whispered. "Do you want them to find us snooping around outside here?"

"Oops. I forgot." Sirius mumbled.

"Proves that the conclusion is right." Remus and Arabella exchanged a high five in front of Sirius.

"Hey, I can't seem to apparate inside." Sirius muttered.

"Neither can I." Remus seconded the comment.

"I bet James must have thought that you guys will do something like this." Arabella laughed. "Let's give them some privacy." She started shoving the guys back to Sirius' bedroom.

"Hey, we're not done with them yet." Sirius argued. At least Remus was now on Arabella's side by dragging a struggling Sirius back.

"Belle is right." Remus chuckled. "Let's give them some privacy. We can force Prongs to spill the details tomorrow."

"And I'll get the juicy news from Lily." Arabella laughed. With Remus keeping an eye on Sirius, Arabella turned back to her bedroom smiling away.

X

"Did you hear something?" Lily sat upright in the bed.

"I take that as our friends are trying to eavesdrop on our conversation." James rested his head on both his hands against Lily's pillow.

"I think I better go and make sure they're not there anymore." Lily flipped the covers up when James took her wrist.

"I cast all sort of charms when I entered earlier. There's no way they could have heard our conversation or see what we're doing. There will be an alarm going off if they attempt to enter this room." James commented breezily. "At least I know I learnt something from muggle studies."

"Haha, very funny." Lily laughed. "Wizards have alarming charms too. I didn't graduate from Hogwarts learning nothing." She climbed back beneath the covers and settled herself close to James.

"Really?" James pretended to look surprise. "I never knew that."

"Haha, very funny." Lily settled herself comfortably and slipped her left hand under her pillow.

"Comfy?" James asked softly. They were now facing each other, and he was resting his left hand against Lily's waist.

"Quite." Lily could feel her eyelid's drooping and was suddenly feeling quite sleepy.

"Let's sleep then." James whispered. "Good night." He moved closer to Lily and hugged her close to him.

"Good night, James." Lily mumbled and placed her right hand over James' waist and snuggled closer to his chest.

"Good night, Lily." James kissed the top of her head just before he fell asleep with her.

X

"It's eight in the morning and they're still inside!" Sirius exclaimed while pacing in the dinning hall, waiting for breakfast to be served. "Do you think they had such great sex last night and tire themselves off?"

"From what I know about Lily, I don't think she will have sex with James yet." Arabella looked up sleepily. Sirius had been more excited than anyone about James proposing to Lily as though he was the one getting married. He had been hyperactive and coaxed Remus to play every possible game he could think of during the night before, and then cruelly woke Arabella and dragged her out of bed at six in the morning.

"Why are you so excited anyway?" Remus asked. "You're not the one being proposed anyway." He was resting his head against the dinning table, his eyes closed and hoping to catch some lost sleep.

"I'm going to be the best man of course." Sirius called out. "And I've never been anyone's best man before." Remus and Arabella had ignored him totally and were dozing off in the dining hall. "You two, wake up!" Both of them refused to even open their eyes. "Hey James, how was sex last night?" Sirius shouted randomly. At that instant, Remus and Arabella sat upright and looking wide awake and tried to look for James and Lily in the room. "Gotcha!"

"Sirius, that's not funny." Arabella muttered angrily. "Remus, you should have cursed him to sleep last night."

"I tried, but he confiscated my wand first thing we entered the room, leaving me powerless the whole night!" Remus confessed. After Remus had shoved Sirius back to the room and locked it, Sirius grabbed hold of Remus' wand and kept it with him safely. Being best friends for so many years, they knew what the other party would do in different situations. And in that circumstances, Remus would not hesitate charming him to sleep against his will.

"Jerk. It's unfair he has so much energy." Arabella said to no one in particular and continued dozing off at the dining table.

"Hey Lily, you look gorgeous today!" Sirius called out again. This time, neither Remus nor Arabella stirred.

"You can't use the same trick twice. That doesn't works on Marauders." Remus reminded despite the fact he looked quite sound asleep.

X

Lily was trying to turn around when she felt there was something keeping her from moving too much. She opened her eyes and saw James' sleeping face while his hands were wrapped tightly against her waist. She smiled and touched his face lovingly when he woke up.

"Oops, did I wake you up?" Lily asked. James finally released his grab and turned to face the ceiling.

"No, but your breath stinks, you know." James said bluntly.

"Hey! Yours too, alright?" Lily sat upright and went straight into the bathroom to brush her teeth first.

"Nah." James mumbled and continued sleeping.

"Hooaah!" Lily went back into bed after brushing her teeth twice and rinsing it with mouthwash. She blew a large mouthful of air against James' nose. Her breath definitely smelt better, with the fresh smell of mints. "Haha, you smelly mouth." James opened his eyes a little as it was rather bright for him. Without any warning, he grabbed Lily's head, pulled her mouth to his and blew a strong puff of air into her mouth. "Aaaah!" Lily struggled but James was too strong for her. He blew a few more mouthfuls of smelly breath into Lily's mouth whenever she opened her mouth.

"Now, your breath smells like mine." James laughed in an amused manner.

"Yuck! Yuck! Yuck!" Lily jumped out of bed again. "Disgusting!" She stuck out her tongue and went straight to rinse her mouth. And this time, she brushed her teeth three more times and rinsed it twice with the mint-flavored mouthwash. "That was so disgusting!" Lily went back to bed and kept a safe distance from James before he tried to do the same thing again.

"That's my breath. What's so disgusting about it?" James chuckled. "It's not like you never kiss me before."

"That's not a kiss. You're being very unhygienic." Lily argued back, returning to the lying down position again.

"You gotta get use to that 'coz I'll be waking up next to you for the rest of your life." James said as a matter-of-fact.

"I don't feel very excited about brushing my teeth five times every morning actually." Lily laughed. "You smelly mouth, go brush your teeth first."

"My stuffs are in my room and now I'm in _your_ room." James reminded her. Lily was not a very morning person and she seemed to take some time before registering the fact.

"Oh, that's right. So what shall we do now? Go out of this room together?" Lily asked. "Honestly, I feel like staying in for the whole day."

"I don't mind too. But we definitely need food and drinks and my toothbrush." James turned to face Lily who was lying at an arm's length away from him.

"How're you going to fetch the stuffs over? The summoning charm?" Lily teased. "And they will start to follow the flying food, I assure you. And all the doors and windows are closed, curtains drawn."

"I suddenly thought of something but I'm not sure if that works anymore." James stood up and went to the window. Making sure none of his friends were hovering outside the window in their broomsticks, he summoned for his wand." Once his wand landed on his palm, he closed the windows, re-cast the charms again to seal up the room. "When I was younger, my dad did something to my wand. Not sure what exactly it was, but I was able to get anything and everything without stepping out of my room."

"That sounds cool." Lily was looking rather excited at something new. "What exactly is it?"

"See this." James waved his wand and then a big three-dimensional screen appeared in front of his wand.

"This is your room." Lily commented. James' room was currently empty; at least he was thankful that Sirius and Remus had not been waiting for him in his bedroom. The scene moved along as though they had been walking into his bedroom. "Woah!" James transferred the wand to his left hand while using his right hand, he grabbed some t-shirts and bermudas and boxers from the wardrobe. Then the scene moved along in his bathroom when he took his toothbrush and shower foam along. After taking everything, he waved again then the screen disappeared back into the wand tip. "How did you do that?"

"I don't know either." James replied honestly. "My dad did this to my wand the first time I was grounded by my mum to stay in my bedroom for one week. The only thing he missed out was that I can't walk into the actual scene myself, I can only take the things from inside."

"Then what happens to the actual things that were there? And can anyone see you doing this?" Lily asked.

"The things just disappear from their location mysteriously. I don't know if anyone can see us or what, never been caught doing it before." James shrugged. "I don't use this very often, only when I'm staying in my room for prolong period of time. In fact, I don't think anyone else know about this. Sirius doesn't know for sure and I don't think my dad told my mum about this."

"Cool. I can go and learn about this charm. It can come in useful." Lily said excitedly. "Now how about breakfast?"

James waved his wand again and now the screen popped out showing the entrance into the kitchens. The house-elves did not notice anything out of ordinary as the scene moved inner to the kitchens. They saw the plates of food being arranged on a table magically which would then appear onto their dinning table.

"Yummy." Lily could hear her own stomach growl as she took out two plates of bacon and eggs. Then she helped herself with another plate of buttered toast and sausages. "Is there anything you want?"

"Tea?" James browsed through the selection for breakfast. "Nuggets?" Lily took out the jar of tea and two cups, along with the bottle of sugar and creamer.

"I supposed that's enough for just the two of us." She commented, looking at the filled coffee table beside her.

"That would do for now." James laughed at Lily's enthusiasm in taking breakfast the sneaky way.


	127. Future is Full of Uncertainties

**Chapter 126: Future is Full of Uncertainties**

"What do you think they're doing in the room for the whole day?" Sirius asked for what felt like the hundredth time that day. It had been about twenty hours since James entered Lily's room the night before. "Could they have dehydrated and died inside without anyone knowing?"

"Sirius, don't be so daft. Remember the people inside that room are million times smarter than you. They'll know how to get food and water without getting out of the room." Arabella said lazily. They were sitting in living room together after dinner. Remus and Arabella were reading while Sirius was fidgeting the whole evening. By now his energy level had depleted tremendously and at least he was not hopping around like an overactive rabbit which was how he behaved that very morning.

"But what can two people do in the bedroom for over twenty hours?" Sirius stood up and walked around the coffee table before sitting down on another armchair across Remus. "There is only so much you can do and so much sex you can have in one day. But I think James is quite.."

"Sirius, can you stop talking about sex?" Arabella threw the magazine on her table. "If you talk one more word about them, I'm leaving you two here."

"I would love to shut him up too." Remus looked up from the Daily Prophet. "But there's nothing I can do without my wand." He shrugged. After the entire day hearing Sirius rattling on and on about sex and James and sex and Lily, he was getting quite immuned to the topic and his voice as well.

"What are you three doing here?" Helen Potter walked passed and stopped by the room they were hanging out in. "Where's James and Lily?"

"Mrs. Potter, we beg you to cast a silencing charm on Sirius first before we start talking." Remus said pleadingly. Arabella nodded her head vigorously in agreement.

"Ha. Alright." With a wave on her wand, Sirius' voice was silenced immediately. "I guess you need your wand too." The two wands in Sirius' jeans pocket flew straight into her palm. "There you go." She passed both the wands to Remus before Sirius could get hold of it. They were watching Sirius' horrified expression when Remus got his wand back.

Remus was giving Sirius his devilish lopsided smile when he waved his wand. The last thing Sirius remembered was Remus' vengeful expression when he fell backwards onto the couch, losing consciousness.

"Thank you so much!" Arabella gushed. "Sirius was giving us a nightmarish day."

"Alright." Helen was laughing, with a sense of nostalgia. "So what happened to James and Lily? Hasn't seen them all day."

"We suspect that James might be proposing to Lily." Remus tried to put it across as mildly as possible.

"Ooh! Really?" Helen was astonished. "Since when did James understand something like marriage?"

"In times of uncertainties like this, we don't know what might happen tomorrow." Remus started. "I wanted to marry Stef, but now, I lost my chance. I don't wish to see two of my best friends suffering the same fate as me." He looked out of the window into the darkness outside.

"Yes, I understand what you mean." Helen said with a tinge of sadness. "Friends I seen not too long ago could be gone before I even know it." She closed her eyes, thinking back to the large number of funerals she had attended in the last few years, from her husband, to her close friends and to distant acquaintances. "Well, let them be. We don't know how much time we've left." Helen said with a sigh. "It's getting late; I better get ready for bed. Good night."

"Good night, Mrs. Potter." Both of them greeted politely. They knew that she must have thought about James' father and sister.

"You alright?" Arabella asked, joining Remus by the window.

"Yeah, I supposed. Can't help but thinking of Stef right now." Remus looked up at the half moon. Although Stef was gone for less than a month, it had felt like forever to him despite the pain was fresh as yesterday.

"I miss her too." Arabella said longingly. "I missed the time when everything was so simple and all we need to worry about was school and exams and teachers."

"I've one more worry than you." Remus laughed bitterly. "I've a 'furry little problem' as the way they always put it."

"Yeah, all the girls would think that it must be one of those rabbits you guys transfigured somewhere in first or second year."

"It would be so much better if it's just a rabbit problem." Remus grimaced when he said that. "I think I better get some sleep now." Arabella gave him a supportive pat on the back when left him alone and returned to her room.

_What can I do to change the history? There must be some use for my powers. But what exactly is it?_ Remus thought as he started heading back to his room. "Belle, what are you doing?" Arabella was walking out from Sirius' bedroom with a pillow and blanket.

"For Sirius." Arabella shrugged. "Just thought he might need since we're having our sweet revenge on him tonight."

"Ahh, I see-" _-the love and concern written all over your face. _Remus chuckled. "Good night."

"Good night and sleep tight to you too." Arabella said before Remus closed his bedroom door. Then she walked passed Lily's bedroom and laugh quietly to herself. _Haha__, those two are really something. See how long can you guys hide from us. _In the hall, Sirius was lying in an awkward position on the two-seater sofa. She placed his pillow underneath his head and moved him to a more comfortable position before throwing the blanket over him.

"Serves you right for doing that to us." Arabella said and pinched his nose for fun. Sirius stirred and the blanket slipped onto the floor. She picked it up and threw it over his long body. "Hmm.. wonder why I even liked you that little bit in the first place." Arabella laughed at her own silliness. "Good night sweet dreams." She pushed back the hair covering his face, pecked his forehead before leaving the room with one last look.

X

"Hey, wasn't that sweet?" Lily whispered to James. Both of them stood up together underneath James' invisibility cloak. He had gone back to his room earlier via his wand to fetch his invisibility cloak before leaving Lily's room.

"I don't know about that sweetness. But I'm feeling a strong sense of stupidity." James commented. Lily had suggested that they should get out of the room to spy on their friends, by being invisible. So after dinner, they left the bedroom silently. No one knew that her room door was even opened.

"Ssshh. Not so loud. Shall we go back now?" Lily said in an annoyed tone. James' temper had always not been good, and after hiding for such a long time, he was getting more irritated.

"I thought you'll never say that." James muttered and they walked back to the bedroom in silence. Within five minutes they were back to visibility in Lily's bedroom.

"So how was that?" Lily asked, looking rather excited like a little girl.

"What is the 'that'?" James asked in a tired tone.

"That little spying expedition?"

"I think it's dumb. I've to be invisible to move in my own house and spy the guests who are staying here. I don't know about you but I felt pretty stupid why I need to be invisible in my home." James blurted out. He walked straight to Lily's bed and climbed in.

"Oops, didn't know it was that terrible for you." Lily looked rather sheepish. "Sorry about that."

"Never mind about it." James shrugged off. "As long as you're happy."

"Jeez, thanks for the company. By the way don't think I didn't notice _that_ expression on your face when Remus was talking to your mum." Lily teased. When Remus was telling Mrs. Potter about what James could be doing, his face suddenly turned a few shades redder than normal with a horrified look.

"No such thing." James denied it flatly. Due to his big ego, he would always deny anything he had done that would affect his masculinity.

"Yeah, right." Lily went into the bathroom to wash up a little before going to bed. "Aren't you brushing your teeth first?"

"After you."

X

"Oh no!" Arabella yelped and dropped her fork on the table with a 'clang'. "Look at this!"

_Latest Attack by You-Know-Who's Supporters_

_ Last night was another terrible night for most. Seven Hogwarts muggleborn students lost their families overnight. More than 30 muggles found dead in their homes at one in the morning. Aurors had caught five deatheaters and were sentenced straight to Azkaban without trials._

"That's terrible news." Remus frowned after reading the article. The muggleborn students were not named in the Daily Prophet to protect their identities. "More children lost their families by the week."

"There must be something we can do." Sirius banged his fist on the table and shouted in frustration.

"What happened?" Lily asked. Everyone seemed to have forgotten that the two of them went missing in action for forty-eight hours straight.

"Hogwarts muggleborns' families killed by deatheaters." Remus told the two of them who joined them at the breakfast table.

"Oh." Lily gasped. Several years ago that had happened to her, and suddenly it just felt like yesterday to her. "Oh no."

"What else did it say?" James asked. His voice was deep and filled with anger. Sirius passed the papers over to him.

_ Two aurors, named Frank Longbottom and Alice Larson, had been caught by the deatheaters last night at __Dover Street__ on duty. There had been no news from them since then._

"Frank and Alice." Lily mumbled, her eyes feeling watery. They had been schoolmates and colleagues all the way since Hogwarts. It was devastating to learn that their friends had been caught by Voldemort's supporters.

_Alastor__ Moody, Head of Auror Department, commented "We'll do our best to rescue Frank and Alice." Their chance of survival would be slim as so far no one had managed to escape from You-Know-Who's hands alive._

"Is there really nothing we can do?" James practically yelled. "It could be any of us who were there on duty and gotten caught? But why Frank and Alice?"

"Prongs, calm dowm." Remus placed his hand on James' shoulders. "I can assure you that they'll get out of Voldemort's hands _alive_."

"How do- oh, you know." Lily suddenly realized that Remus must have seen them whenever he traveled to the future. Remus had been trying his best to find a solution to defeat Voldemort. But so far none of their plans even seemed remotely feasible.

"This might be a lame idea." James said suddenly. "But do you think you can get er.. Harry.. back from the future?" His face suddenly turned rather red. No one was in the mood to tease them about their proposal at this point of time.

"Honestly do you think I never try that?" Remus asked exasperated. "I've been trying to figure out _how_ I can get him back. I've spoke to Harry before. But the tiny problem is that every single time I meet him, I'll have to explain to him everything from the beginning. Things are constantly changing due to us constantly adjusting the present. It alters the future. Harry was one person in existence that rarely changes in the future." He drank a gulp of water before continuing. "I've thought about the time-turner. But there are side effects. It's nearly a twenty-year lapse. What if something goes wrong? And by the time he returns to whichever time he turned back, he would have been at least forty!" He took another deep breath and continued. "Not to assure anyone or what, but he defeated Voldemort finally when he was eighteen."

"What!" Everyone shouted.

"But that's like twenty years later; so many innocent people would have died by then." Arabella shook her head, not wanting to believe what Remus said.

"Yes, and the innocent people included all of you." Remus looked away and avoided their eye contact.

"Us?" Lily repeated. "We all will be dead by then and it's caused by him?" It's not a good thing to hear that you would be dying so soon into the future.

"So far, this is one future that has been unavoidable." Remus went on. "I'm really sorry having to say all these."

"No, go on." James urged Remus. Despite the fact that he was too shocked to hear this coming from someone he trusted his life with.

"I've seen a range of different life paths so far. But Harry had definitely existed because James and Lily died protecting him." Remus continued, pausing to see everyone's reaction. "Harry was called the-boy-who-lived because at the age of one, he reflected Voldemort's killing curse."

"Oh my gosh!" Lily's hands flew to cover her mouth in shocked. She was not sure if she was surprised that her son could reflect the killing curse or she would only lived to see her son turning one. James placed his arm around Lily's shoulders, hoping to comfort her a little despite his own shock.

"Did Voldemort die?" Sirius asked in a very straightforward manner.

"Yes and no. I'm not even sure of the answer." Remus spoke. "I never stayed long enough to see too much, just fragments of the future. "Voldemort was killed by baby Harry, but he somehow came back to life around twelve years later. I don't know how and I don't know who helped him."

"It must be all those deatheaters." Sirius banged his fist on the table in anger. He was reminded by his supposedly pure-blooded family who could jolly well be deatheaters. Perhaps he had killed another Black at some point of time or another without knowing.

"I don't know." Remus said. "I tried doing something else. It was risky, but we don't have a choice."

"What is it?" Lily asked curiously.

"I approached my own adult self." Remus said with a loud sigh. "Of course every time when I return, he did not remember me. But I told my future self that he must come up with something to allow Harry travel back through time and defeat Voldemort before anything goes out of hand." He looked around at his friends who were waiting for him to continue anxiously. "Despite everyone's advanced magical ability, there was nothing he could do. So if we really manage to do it, which part of the timeline can we go to?"

"When Riddle is born." Sirius said certainly. "We can all kill him off easily if he's just a baby."

"Have you forgotten that the enemy is a Slytherin descendant?" Lily pointed out. "He would have thought of something like this."

"Yeah, and we take him from a kid and bring him up and guide him the right way." Sirius said in an annoyed tone. "As if that would avoid Slytherin from choosing another descendant."

"Actually you know what, that doesn't sound like a bad idea." Remus reasoned. "What do you guys think?"

"Ok, so let's take it we're going to do this." James spoke his thoughts. "Is it possible for you to check out what might happen in the future if we take this step?"

"Okay, give me a few minutes." Remus closed his eyes and disappeared from where he was sitting previously.

"I wasn't serious when I said that." Sirius argued. "Can't you all see I was just being sarcastic?"

"We don't know if that works either." Arabella commented. "Remus is going to check what happen if we _actually_ continue to do this."

Suddenly Remus just appeared on the couch again, looking a little windblown.

"So what happened?" Lily asked immediately.

"That's not a good idea." Remus was panting a little. "Riddle seemed to be able to perform magic when he's still a baby. He seemed to be able to detect us or something and killed us all before we even know it."

"How about if we protect ourselves first?" James suggested.

"High risk too." Remus added. "He had the power to attack us when we're defenseless. In fact, there's a possibility of him killing us with his brain power. The baby Riddle was staring at me so intensely that I could feel a headache coming. I nearly died there." Everyone gasped.

"Told you that the idea was nonsense." Sirius muttered a little too loudly.

"What if we trace back earlier?" James asked. "We can prevent their parents from meeting. Didn't Dumbledore mention that the Riddles were very private people?"

"I try to check it out." Remus took a drink before disappearing to the past. They remained silent, all deep in their own thoughts, hoping to come up with a better idea. After what felt like five minutes, Remus appeared again on the same sport.

"So how was it?" Sirius asked first.

"The Gaunts, also known as Slytherin's last descendants, were private people who kept to themselves. At least that's what the villagers told me. Only their younger daughter, I believe is Voldemort's mother, ever came out of the house. But generally they were not very well-like and people isolate them thinking they were freaks. But on the other hand, the Riddle's family as quite well off and popular. Their only son was a good looking chap, very popular with the ladies in the village."

"So that means Voldemort's mother must have used dark magic on the poor guy. And years later, Voldemort went back to kill his muggle father's family." Arabella was trying to link the facts together.

"That's not impossible either." Sirius commented. "Voldemort must have inherited those traits from his mother side." Everyone turned to stare at Sirius while he thought he was analyzing.

"Isn't that _obvious_?" Arabella rolled her eyes. "How did you even manage to graduate from Hogwarts in the top ten positions? And even qualified to be an auror with such a low level of intelligence?" Everyone started laughing. Sirius was smart but could be quite silly at times.

"I'm a genius. Just giving this three a chance for the top three positions. I'm just not interested in studies as much as them." Sirius shrugged nonchalantly. "Anyway, we're brainstorming for Voldemort's defeat, don't try to change topic." He poked Arabella's head with his index finger.

"As if this will make you any smarter than before." Arabella said in a loud and clear voice. All of them just laughed at the two of them bickering like old times.

X

"Professor, what do you think we should do?" James asked. They had gathering in Dumbledore's office in Hogwarts to seek for his advice.

"I don't have as much power as you all do when it comes to Voldemort. I can keep him out of Hogwarts as long as I'm here. But to defeat him totally, I admit that I might not be able to do so." Dumbledore said wisely. "I strongly felt that Harry, James' son in the future, would be a key person in Voldemort's defeat, considering he had done it twice in his life in the future."

"By bringing him back, it might be able to reverse the whole situation." Sirius added.

"I don't doubt that suggestion at all, but even with a time turner, there is only so much we can do. And Remus had not been able to come into close contact with anyone not from the same dimension. We need something more advanced than just the time-turner." Dumbledore spoke while he tried to figure out what could be the best solution. The situation of Deatheaters and Voldemort was getting worse by the week. Just two weeks ago, seven of his students became orphans overnight.


	128. Gloomy Christmas

**Chapter 127: Gloomy Christmas**

"This just doesn't feel right." Arabella's voice was filled with emotions. "Stef should be here for Christmas. It is supposed to be a happy occasion." Christmas was next week and barely any festive mood could be seen around the magical community. Who knew what Voldemort might do?

"Belle, I know what you mean." Lily placed an arm around Arabella. Time flew and it was the first Christmas they were going to spend together as adults. Many things had happened ever since they graduated from Hogwarts. Birthday celebrations had toned down many folds to just a simple dinner with a cake and presents from loved ones. Holidays like Thanksgiving were also simple gatherings held at one another's house. The Marauders' way of celebration had not been around as far as they could remember. "There must be something we can do, to get everything back to those happy times." She leaned her head on Arabella's shoulder. Both of them were hanging out in Lily's bedroom.

"How could Voldemort even been in existence? Where's his retribution? What happened to the Nature's Law?" Arabella sighed. They had just finished work and hanging out together all alone. The guys were doing night duties for today and it could be quite lonely sometimes.

"My sentiments exactly. He might be someone powerful, but I believe there is greater power beyond." Lily commented. "And miracles can only happen if we believe strongly in something."

"Yes, I believe Stef will come back to us." Arabella said in a determined voice. Both of them were now lying on Lily's bed facing the ceiling

"Stef will be joining us once again before we know it." Lily repeated in a confident voice. _But when will that be?_

"Meanwhile let's try to brainstorm and see if we can think of anything to deal with this." Arabella said finally.

X

"Is there anything we can do?" James asked Edgar in a low voice as they walked along the dark areas in Diagon Alley. It was early evening but most of the shops were already closed for the day. At dark times like this, most people would rather spend their time with their loved ones than tending the shops.

"I really hope that Frank and Alice will be fine. They're still undergoing training. What could be the reason that the deatheaters pick them?" Edgar said monotonously with a tinge of anger.

_It's the prophecy. It's either them or us. _"I don't know. But most importantly, they will come back alive." James blurted out his thoughts without realizing what he just said.

"What?" Edgar turned his head and face James. "How did you know?"

"Huh? What did I say?" James was caught by Edgar sudden question.

"You said that Frank and Alice will come back alive, how do you know that?" Edgar narrowed his eyes and looked straight into James' soul, checking his honesty and truthfulness, and most importantly his identity.

"Take it as gut feeling if you like." James shrugged off. "Did you think I'm a deatheater who took the Polyjuice potion?" He said in a light-hearted manner.

"Yes." Edgar looked away and continued walking. "That happened about nine years ago." His voice was suddenly filled with sorrow. "I was like you now, just graduated from Hogwarts. At that time, he was not as powerful as now, but he already had a lot of deatheaters under him. Besides myself, there were two others, Alex and Jerald, both my friends from school who were from the same batch." He drank some water from his bottle before continuing, while remaining alert at little movements in the dark alleys. "For the next three months, many aurors, especially the more experienced ones, had been captured, tortured, and killed. At that point, no one has thought that he would send a deatheater to join as auror. But he did." He paused for a longer moment.

"And then?" James prompted Edgar to continue.

"Within those six months, most of the aurors were gone. I was captured, along with Alex, by those deatheaters, and we were under the Imperius Curse for one week." Sadness had filled Edgar's eyes by now. "But luckily, we came back to consciousness. We just pretended to be under the Imperious Curse. While I was snooping around for more information, I found out that Alex was doing the same thing. But at that point of time, our buddies were already gone and we don't know who we could trust."

_I hope that will never happen to Sirius or Remus. _James frowned as he thought about his most trusted friends.

"The last person we thought could be the one to bring down the whole Aurors Department was the one who did it."

"Jerald?"

"That's right." Anger was written all over Edgar's face. "He was the traitor who leak out the news where the aurors were patrolling, what our plans were and all our identities."

"What happened then?" James urged him to continue. After all, Sirius' father, or perhaps biological uncle, had been the Head of Auror department for several years.

"Most of the aurors were gone. Jason Black, at that point of time, was the most experienced auror became the Head of Department with support from the Minister himself." Edgar took a glance at James' reaction as he referred to his deceased father.

"It's okay. Do continue." James gave an assuring smile. They walked passed the Shrieking Shack, which was in total silence before continuing.

"He was the one who recruited and trained new aurors right from the beginning. Jason also implemented many welfare and safety precautions that we still use today. He's an amazing man. As everyone knows, the Black families are very arrogant and supported the dark arts. They could even be You-Know-Who's supporters. Jason was not like them and he proved all of us wrong. More than half of the new aurors were muggleborns and half-bloods. But he was also very selective in recruitment and made sure they pass many tests before they became certified."

"He's a wonderful guy. I've learnt many things from him too." James admitted.

"But he chose to step down from the Head Auror position after Mrs. Black – departure." James nodded as Edgar spoke. It was another usual night patrolling Diagon Alley. "In fact Moody would have been the first choice if he wasn't in such a terrible medical condition back then. Jason had always been the advisory role in this department but at that point of time, there were just twelve of us and we were all too green to the real world.

"Thinking back I should be around eight or nine when that happened judging from the way this sounds." James commented. "He should have been really stressful, but he didn't look at all stressed up as far as I could remember."

"That's another amazing thing about him. He never brings his work stress home to face you kids." Edgar shook his head and chuckled. "It's really tough to learn not to bring the work home. But we all suspect that he uses a time-turner." Both men laughed at the thought of Stefanie's father being at two places at the same time. "So he shared with us his secret potion."

"That sounds interesting." James grinned at the thought that a potion could reduce stress and forget all about work. "Sounds brilliant."

"Yeah, that's why he shared with us all. He said that just one drop into your mouth after work daily." Edgar chuckled. "And then after taking it for all these years, he told us that his secret potion was nothing but colored water."

"Colored water?" James asked. "How?" The two men made another turn and were nearing the entrance to Leaky Cauldron.

"It's not a secret potion at all. He lied to us about it for so many years." Edgar tilted his head to one side. "He was training us mentally to not mix the different aspects of life. Work is work. Home is home."

"I never knew that." James was surprised to hear that. "I don't think Sirius and Stefanie knew either." The next comment flowed out of his mouth subconsciously.

"Who's Stefanie?" Edgar frowned. "I never knew Jason had a daughter."

"Oh, that's his god-daughter." James added quickly. _Oh no. Stef had ceased to exist in the present. _"She came over and to play with us sometimes."

"I see." Edgar did not notice James' relief expression as they made a left turn. "What's that?" The two men rushed forward for a closer look.

X

"We need to get back to HQ now." Gideon said suddenly when he felt his wand vibrating in his pocket. Sirius nodded and both guys apparated back to the Ministry lobby. They saw several aurors walking briskly into the lift lobby and tried to catch up.

"What do you think has happened?" Sirius asked while running with Gideon.

"We'll know it soon enough." Gideon said without slowing down. Behind them they could see several other aurors following closely. It was ten in the night and there were not much crowd in the Ministry.

"Any idea what's up?" Sturgis asked as the aurors stepped into the magical lift to bring them up to the office.

"It must have been urgent for sure." Fabian commented. Jason, their previous department head, had created a paging service based on muggle invention to be used on the wand. All aurors' wands were charmed so that whenever there's an emergency, the wands would vibrate. If there's a message, they would apparate straight to the meeting point, if not, it would be the headquarters.

"Finally." Remus muttered as everyone dashed out of the lift and hurried back to the office. They rarely had this kind of emergency. And it was the first time for the four trainee aurors.

"Frank and Alice were found in Diagon Alley ten minutes ago." Alastor Moody was announcing. "They're at St Mungo right now. Deatheaters suspected to be around Diagon Alley, the eight of you search the whole place tonight." He pointed to where the majority of the group was standing. "Do not cause an alarm. We don't want to be in Daily Prophet's headlines tomorrow morning. Black and Gabian, you two will be going to St Mungo to ensure their safety."

"Yes, sir." The group replied once his instructions were given. The eight of them who were supposed to go to Diagon Alley stayed for a short discussion while Sirius and Gideon left the office and ready to head towards St Mungo.

"Thankfully they're alright now." Gideon said. "It could have been worse."

"That's true." Sirius replied. He already knew that Frank and Alice would be alright. Once they reached the lobby, they apparated towards St Mungo.

X

_Hey,_

_Just to let you two know that F and A had been found._

_J._

"Frank and Alice are found." Lily grinned. They were lying around in Lily's bedroom when James' owl flew into her bedroom. James and wrote in abbreviations as it was highly confidential and it was just a precaution in case the note ended in the wrong hands. "I'll go and see them first thing tomorrow morning."

"Thankfully they're fine. I know that we all know they're going to live, but still, it's a relief to hear good news." Arabella read the note once before putting it aside at the bedside table. "Can I spend the night here? It's quite boring alone in the room sometimes."

"Sure. I always love your company." Lily smiled. _Christmas is about five days away. No one seems to be in the mood for this season. With muggleborns' families murdered, people captured, and fears in the wizarding community, this Christmas is going to be worse than the last one in Hogwarts._

"Say that to James." Arabella chuckled and made herself more comfortable in Lily's bed.

X

"How are they now?" Sirius asked the moment he saw James and Edgar around the hospital wards.

"Out of danger. They had been under Cruciatus Curses and suspected to be still in Imperius Curse." Edgar said. "The healers are still inside with them."

"Which part of Diagon Alley did you two found them?" Sirius asked again. "Knockturn Alley?"

"Where else?" James said. The hospital was rather misty and it was late in the night. The only voices they could hear were their own voices. The four of them paced around the various corridors just to make sure none of the Deatheaters had followed them to St Mungo. Edgar had even checked to make sure that the Healers and Mediwitches inside the room were actual medical officers and not deatheaters in disguise, just for precaution.

X

"Merry Christmas!" Lily said cheerfully to everyone in the ward. It was Christmas Day and she had been on duty all night. The five of them had a quick dinner with Mrs. Potter, Mr. Black and Remus' parents at the Potter's Manor before returning to work the night before. Moody had wanted all aurors to be in full force for the three festive days. They were only allowed to be home for two hours each day for a brief celebration with their families. James, Sirius and Remus had stayed long enough to have a quick dinner together before apparating back to the Ministry. "Here are roses for everyone." She beamed at all the pale but smiling faces around her.

"Merry Christmas to you too!" Alice greeted much more cheerfully than usual. She had been warded in St Mungo for a week since she was rescued from Diagon Alley. It had been a traumatizing experience for both of them and she was still having nightmares about her capture now and then. Frank was recovering in a much faster speed and would be able to be discharged soon enough.

"A rose for you." Lily handed a beautifully conjured pink rose to Alice. "You're looking great today!" She said encouragingly before moving towards the next patient beside her bed. Despite working for the entire night, all the healers and mediwitches had been getting into a more festive mood with all the decorations they put up in their wards. All the staff was wearing Santa hats while some of the patients conjured their own and wear them around too.

"Jess, that's a beautiful necklace on you." Lily gave her compliments and encouraging words as she move along the wards. "Ladies, see you all later." With that she moved out of the room and moved towards the next one. "Wow! Nice teddy Leena." She gushed as she started handing out pink roses.

X

"At least I'm glad that everyone is having a good time today." Remus commented to Gideon. The crowd outdoor was not significant but at least most of them looked happy. They were walking around Diagon Alley, talking and laughing, and yet remaining alert to any suspicious commotion around. Moody had told them that the Deatheaters might strike at crowded areas. Nearly all the aurors were on duty at any minute of the day at different locations, both magical and muggle communities.

"Let's hope it's alright this year. I don't know if you were aware, there's at least one deatheater's attack on every public holiday." Gideon told him in a low voice. Remus nodded.

"I've seen in the papers. But I just hope that this year would be different." Remus looked ahead, suddenly reminded about Stefanie.

"You okay?" Gideon waved his left hand in front of Remus' eyes. "You were spaced out for a second."

"I'm fine." Remus gave his most reassuring smile. "Just thought of someone."

"No worries. She'll be fine." Gideon smiled and they continued to patrol around. "It's important to be in constant alert right now."

"How did you know that it is a 'she'?" Remus asked in surprise. _Did Gideon remember Stef?_

"I do think about my fiancée at times like this too." Gideon blushed slightly at his confession. "It's normal. If you tell me you're thinking of a guy, I'll have to keep an arm's length from you." He laughed it off.

"You can forget about worrying about that. I'm straight, you know." Remus chuckled.

"Yeah, lucky for me." Gideon gave a short laugh before pointing left. The two men turned to a more deserted part of Diagon Alley to patrol.

X

"You look much better today." Arabella commented as she sat down beside Alice's bed.

"Thanks for coming." Alice beamed. Most of her family members had been murdered by the deatheaters in the last few years. All she had left were just friends from school and work, and Frank.

"That's what friends are for." Arabella assured her. "So how are things between you and Frank?" She asked in concern.

"We talk about getting married and everything. But you know how things are right now; it's like not the right time." Alice said, looking away from Arabella. "Honestly, I don't even know what will happen tomorrow. What if we get captured again?"

"Don't think about all these what-ifs, most importantly you two have each other now and today, that's enough to be contented with." Arabella told her. "Certain things are beyond our control and the circumstance which we're in right now is one of those."

"You're right. Maybe I shouldn't be so pessimistic about all these. When we were captured and being tortured by the deatheaters, I really didn't think that we could come back alive." Alice shuttered at the thought of what happened to her.

"What matters most is that you're alright now." Arabella held her hand. "And that there are still people around that cares for you."

"Thanks!" Alice smiled gratefully at her fellow schoolmate. "So how are the Marauders doing these days when they are not at work?" Alice had graduated from Hogwarts the same year with Lily and the Marauders but in Ravenclaw, while Frank was a year older from Gryffindor. All of them had definitely knew the Marauders from school at one point of time or another. Besides they were all in Dumbledore's Order together.

X

"Hey dude, all ready to rock and roll?" Sirius asked Frank the moment he walked into the ward.

"You bet." Frank grinned at the two men who just walked in.

"We're here to escort you home back to Mrs. Longbottom, which can mean Alice or your mother." Fabian added jokingly. Some of the other men in the ward heard his commented and laughed while Frank turned few shades redder suddenly.

"Let us do the heavy work." Sirius grabbed the bag that Frank just finished zipping up and ushered him to walk ahead. "Had a great rest?"

"Of course. Feeling much better and all gear up for more work." Frank commented. "We've to do something to stop all these." He frowned at the thought of his capture. "Shall we go over to see Alice?"

"Sure thing, we've yet to see her for a couple days." Fabian said. The three turned towards the female ward and some of the mediwitches were surprised to see three good-looking men walking in at the same time.

"Hey Lily, where's Alice's bed?" Sirius called Lily's from behind. It was easy to recognize Lily from her back view from her red hair.

"Oh, you gave me a shock." Lily smiled. "Feeling better?" She asked Frank as she led the three guys towards Alice's room.

"Definitely." Frank said honestly.

"Belle is inside with Alice now." Lily told them while she stopped outside the room. "Catch up with you guys later." Although it was Christmas day, most of the hospital staff was at work to prepare for sudden attacks.

"Hey Alice, your Romeo is here to see you." Sirius announced their entry into Alice's ward.

X

"Cheers!" The five goblets filled with butterbeer clinked together. They were having an early Christmas dinner at the Potter's Manor. It had been a long day of work for all of them except Arabella who was enjoying her holiday with Alice in the hospital.

"One more day of suffering and we can get some rest." Sirius commented. "Thankfully Moody bestowed the third day of Christmas as my rest day. I would have died if he gave it to someone else."

"Padfoot, thank you very much for reminding us that our off days are after yours." James rolled his eyes as he emptied the butterbeer in his goblet. "We can request for a switch, right?" He turned to Remus.

"Of course, our reasoning skills aren't that bad either." Remus grinned.

"Oh, no!" Sirius groaned. "You two won't do that two me. I need a break terribly. You know how tired it is to be patrolling in St Mungo, especially with all the beds tempting us to sleep." All of them laughed at Sirius' comment.

"Honestly, I never felt that way with hospital beds before." Lily shook her head. "Shall we hurry with dinner so we can get to open the presents?" It had been such a busy day for all and it was their first meeting together since their dinner the night before.

"Yeah, and back to work after that." James added. "Duty calls." The three aurors would need to get back to work after their two hours time-off while Lily would be resting for a few more hours before returning to work the next morning.

"Let's not think about work for now. It's just food and presents and Christmas!" Sirius said with unusual enthusiasm.

"That's right. Let's have another toast of butterbeers." Remus started refilling everyone's goblet.

"Cheers!" They continued their simple Christmas celebration for another two hours. Despite the light-hearted conversation and joy of the festive season, something was just missing from their life. It was the simplicity of life that they used to have.

"Bye, you guys take care." Lily and Arabella hugged the three guys before they apparated back to the Ministry at the front porch.

"You two have an early rest too." James said and gave Lily a kiss on her lips. "Take care."

"You too." Lily murmured as they broke apart. With three simultaneous 'pops' the guys disapparated off.

"Let's go." Arabella and Lily took one last look into the darkness before retreating back into the cozy hall.

"I can't help it but I was thinking of Stef throughout dinner, although no one mentions anything about it." Lily confessed. They were walking back to Lily's room since Arabella did not want to sleep alone in her bedroom.

"I think all of us were thinking of her. It's just that we don't want to say something to bring back sad memories for Remus."


	129. Twenty Years into the Future

**Chapter 128: Twenty Years into the Future**

Christmas had flown by and the end of the year was drawing nearer. As everyone had expected, there was a deatheaters' attack the day after Christmas in muggle London. Several muggles died and many had their memories modified. Luckily the aurors had arrived in time to prevent any more casualties.

"My new year resolution is going to find ways to defeat Voldemort." James slammed his fist on the arm rest. They had graduated only about half a year ago but it felt like forever. The sheltered student life they used to have felt so far back in their memories.

"Prongs, you're not the only one." Sirius muttered. He threw aside the latest issue of Daily Prophet which was having the usual You-Know-Who headlines.

"I will try again. See you all later." Remus told them. He had been taking time to travel to meet his future self nearly every day, hoping to find a way to get Harry back to the current time so they could join forces to defeat Voldemort together. Everyone knew that Harry was the key person in Voldemort's defeat, if he had done it twice in the future, he must be able to do something now.

"Take care." Arabella said before Remus disappeared from the couch he was sitting on a few seconds ago.

"We better get some rest. It's another long day for all of us tomorrow." Lily suggested. As it was New Year's Eve the next day, most of them would be back to work again as usual.

X

"Moony." Remus called out to his future self who was walking in front of him in the dimly-lit corridor. He had traveled forward in time once again and hoping that things would have turned out different since the last time.

"Who are you?" Professor Lupin looked at the eighteen-year-old boy in surprise. He had come back to Hogwarts since Professor Dumbledore died two years ago and continued to be the Defense Against Dark Arts teacher, with Professor McGonagall's invitation.

"It's a long story. Can we talk in the office privately?" Remus sighed. He knew that he would have to repeat his story nearly again.

"Please take a seat." Professor Lupin eyed the boy suspiciously. There was something oddly familiar about him that he could not pinpoint to.

"Okay, I'm your eighteen-year-old self, coming to the future to seek for your help." Remus started. "You, or we, have the gift of time travel. I need your help to create something to help Harry to travel with me back through time to defeat Voldemort."

"Harry had already defeat Voldemort." Professor Lupin said in a low voice.

"But he had already killed many people along the way. If only Harry could go back in time, to defeat him, imagine how many people's life would have been saved? James, Lily and Sirius, they are my friends. I don't want them to die and I don't want to be at all their funerals." Remus pleaded. He could see that his older self was contemplating what to do next. "I believe if Harry can go back with me, the history will change."

"But how can you guarantee Harry's safety?" Professor Lupin asked. "So many people had died in the process. All my loved ones had left me one after another."

"I can understand that because I'll end up the way you are now twenty years later. That's why I want to change the history. I don't want to lose Stef, I don't want to lose my friends, and I don't want to lead a life of loneliness. I want to change it." Remus emphasized with emotions.

"I tried that when I was your age, and I failed. Sometimes I blamed myself for causing all their deaths. I knew that would happen yet I can't change it. I'm powerless." Professor Lupin stood up and looked out of the window.

"We both know that we're here for a reason, why can't we change the history for a better and happier future?" Remus asked. "I refuse to accept the fact that Stefanie is gone. And I'll get her back even if I need to sacrifice my life."

"I've been trying to find her all these years but to no avail." Professor Lupin turned back to face Remus.

"Remus, for everyone's sake, can we create something for Harry and persuade him to go back with me?" Remus stood up face to face with his older self, who was looking very much older than his actual age, and very haggard.

"I don't know why, but along the way after Dumbledore's death, I kept my powers in this." Professor Lupin took out a triangular disc, with rounded edges. It had a swirl of colors in the middle, mainly orange and red, moving constantly in a circular motion.

"What is this?" Remus asked.

"I've traced back into very distant history and found out that several magical items were created in the beginning of time. One of those was this Light Compass. It was known to hold the element of time, probably dated more than six thousand years ago or even longer." Professor Lupin allowed Remus to take a closer look. "It was a gift from the past." He sat down once again with Remus.

"When did this happen?" Remus frowned. Whatever it was, the origins sure sounded dubious.

"One year ago, I don't know why, but I traveled all the way to the beginning of time. I don't know when exactly it was, but I just knew it when I reach there. A magical voice from heaven gave me the instructions and left this in front of me. He told me to transfer both mine and Stefanie's powers inside. I just followed his instructions; place both our pendants on it there and then." Professor Lupin held up the Light Compass. "And the next thing I remembered, I was back here in Hogwarts, not a minute passed since my departure with this in my pocket."

"What do you think of it?" Remus asked hopefully. This could be their only chance for a better future.

"Honestly, I don't know. I did my research and could not find anything link to this. I can say that this may just be a gift from the Gods above. But it's too late now."

"It's not too late. This may just be the chance for Harry to travel back with me." Remus said suddenly. "No one can live in a dimension not belonging to them and this might just enable Harry to live in my time."

"But I don't even know what exactly this is. It might just be a figment of my imagination." Professor Lupin argued as he kept the Light Compass back in his pocket.

"We need to try. Can we at least get Harry's opinion?" Remus begged. He was really beginning to be annoyed with his own rational self.

"I'm still not agreeable to risking Harry's life." Professor Lupin said firmly.

"Let's get Harry here. I'm sure he will agree with me." Remus was sure of that. _James and Lily would do it for me and I'm sure their son would agree too._

"Let's wait till morning then." Professor Lupin sat down once again next to Remus. Silence filled the air and Remus felt asleep within minutes on the chair. Professor Lupin conjured a more comfortable bed and levitated Remus onto it before magicking the covers over him. _Why didn't I do something like that twenty years ago? The present might have been different from now._

X

"Harry, can you come to my office?" Professor Lupin called out to Harry.

"Yes, Professor?" Harry turned to Ginny and gave her a puzzled look. "Is something wrong?"

"I'll explain to you in the office. Ginny, you might want to join us too." Professor Lupin sighed softly before turning around. Harry and Ginny exchanged a quizzical look before following Professor Lupin. They walked back to his office in silence, not knowing what to say.

"Harry." Remus called out in surprise the moment Professor Lupin entered his office with Harry and Ginny.

"Hi." Harry greeted the stranger and looked at Professor Lupin in surprise.

"Harry, Ginny, you might want to take a seat first before I start explaining." Professor Lupin took a seat in between Remus and Harry. "Now, this is Remus, my eighteen-year-old self."

"Huh?" Harry and Ginny looked at both of them, wide-eyed.

"What do you mean by that?" Harry asked. "How could-?"

"Listen to me first." Professor Lupin started explaining. "I understand that everything you two are going to hear will sound very absurd, but it's the truth. My younger self is here to seek for help to alter the history." Both Professor Lupin and Remus studied Harry and Ginny's reaction. "I've tried many ways and it ended up – you know – this way, Remus is here to seek an alternative. And I think we may have found it."

"What do you mean by alter the history?" Harry asked.

"That means you, Harry, will travel back to the past with me and help to change the history by defeating Voldemort in the past." Remus put it simply. Both Harry and Ginny gave him a puzzled look.

"I was against this initially, but a voice in the back of my head tells me that this might just be the right thing to do." Professor Lupin said with a sigh.

"So how is Harry going to travel back with Remus?" Ginny asked with a trace of worry.

"Using this Light Compass." Professor Lupin took the triangular disc out from his pocket again. "This holds the element of time and I believe you will be able to travel back with Remus and live in that dimension. Besides, it holds my powers as well as Stefanie's."

"Who is Stefanie?" Harry asked again. There were so many questions bursting in his head that he wanted to ask but he had no idea how to go about doing it.

"She's my first love and Sirius' cousin." Professor Lupin's voice was distant.

"So both of you want me to travel back with er.. Remus.. to defeat Voldemort in the past?" Harry asked. Both Professor Lupin and Remus nodded their heads at the same time.

"Wouldn't that be very dangerous?" Ginny asked. "What if Harry gets trapped and can't return or perhaps something bad happens?"

"I know it's dangerous, and I was against it initially." Professor Lupin clarified. "But if this gives Harry a chance of having parents all these years, and growing up as a normal boy, we may need to risk it."

"Wouldn't the whole situation be kind of strange?" Harry asked. "I mean I just turned eighteen not too long ago and I'm going to meet my parents who are eighteen as well."

"It may be strange. But we're on a mission for it. Harry had been able to defeat Voldemort twice because he was blessed with our powers." Remus added. "Especially Voldemort's power. If he can go back with me, we might just be able to reverse the way everything had turned out."

"Harry, the decision lies in you. We're not going to force to you to make any decision, but we hope that you will be able to help all of us." Professor Lupin said finally. Remus nodded in agreement. Harry turned to look at Ginny for support, who gave an encouraging nod.

"Since this is our only hope, I'll do it. I'll go back with Remus to the past." Harry said firmly after hesitating for a few seconds.

"I'll go with Harry as well." Ginny gave Harry a supportive pat on the back of his palm.

"Ginny, your parents will never allow you to do something like this." Professor Lupin reminded.

"I'll go with Harry wherever he's going." Ginny said affirmatively. If it was in another situation, Remus would have found that Harry and Ginny reminded him a lot of of James and Lily.

"Harry, Ginny, you don't know how much this is going to mean to all of us. But we must consider all the dangers that you two are going to face." Remus said grimly. "It's a bad time back there."

"I don't think what I had experienced in the last few years was any easier than that." Harry muttered to no one in particular but Ginny had heard him clearly. She gave a gentle squeeze on his right hand. "But Ginny, it's too dangerous for you."

"We had face Voldemort together before, what difference is it going to be this time?" Ginny argued.

"Alright." Harry gave in without much argument. "So are we going to pack up and leave now?" He asked Professor Lupin, who nodded in silence.

"Harry, Ginny, thank you." Remus called out just before Harry and Ginny went out of the office. Both of them turned and gave him a nod and closed the door after them.

"Professor Lupin, thank you." Remus said gratefully.

X

"Are you two ready?" Professor Lupin asked Harry and Ginny. They had left two hours ago to pack up and say goodbyes to their friends before returning to his office again. But this time, Ron and Hermione had come along with them.

"Yes." Harry nodded and turned to face Ginny.

"Ron, help me tell mum and dad sorry. I will be fine." Ginny told her brother. "And Hermione, I'll leave him in your care." She gave Hermione and Ron a tight hug.

"Have you two brought everything with you?" Hermione asked again as she pat their backpacks.

"I supposed so." Ginny said almost inaudibly. "Just some basic necessities."

"Go back to 1st January 1979, Potter's Manor." Professor Lupin passed the Light Compass to Harry. "Are you sure of this?" None of them had any idea how this gadget would bring them back through time.

"How do I use this?" Harry asked curiously, holding the Light Compass up and looking through the swirl of colors.

"Place it on the floor in front of both of you." Professor Lupin said automatically as if he had knew how to use it all the while. Harry squatted down immediately and placed the Light Compass on the solid ground just in front of him. Suddenly a strong white light emitted from the Light Compass, and formed a hole in the middle. The light was so glaring that they had to cover their eyes from the blinding light, including Harry and Ginny.

"I think we're supposed to walk in." Harry told Ginny as he caught a glimpse of the hole in front of him despite the glaring light. He held onto Ginny's hand tightly and they walked ahead together. Just as sudden, Harry's owl, Hedwig flew into Professor Lupin's office from the window and followed them into the Light Compass tunnel.

"Hegwig." Hermione caught a glimpse of Harry's snowy owl as it flew pass her. The white light got dimmer and disappeared gradually, leaving no traces of Harry or Ginny, or the Light Compass behind.

"I guess I better make a move as well." Remus broke the silence. "Remus, Ron, Hermione, thanks for all your help." The three of them smiled sympathetically as he vanished into thin air.

In almost an instant, Remus reappeared in Potter's Manor. "What time is it now?" He muttered to himself shaking his head. The hall where he left earlier was now rather dark with a few candles in the corridor flickering. "Where's Harry and Ginny?" He jerked up suddenly in realization. "Oh no!"

He jumped off from the couch and dashed towards his friends' bedroom. "James! Open the door!" He banged on James' bedroom door. "Sirius!" He went straight into Sirius' bedroom as he had forgotten to lock the door. "I need you up this very instant." He conjured a pail of water from midair and toppled it over Sirius' head.

"Moony! I was just having a dream!" Sirius sat upright and shouted angry, totally drenched.

"This is urgent! Get your arse out of your bed." Remus dashed out of Sirius' bedroom and towards Lily's room. "Lily! I need your help!"

"What's happening?" James asked groggily as he came out from his bedroom. Arabella was also rudely wakened up from the din Remus was making.

"Remus, are you alright?" Lily opened the door and found Remus standing outside her bedroom looking quite disheveled.

"Harry is back!" Remus announced, looking at his friends' reactions.

"What?" All of them took several seconds to register what Remus just said.

"What do you mean by 'Harry is back'?" James frowned and scratched his head. It was nearing midnight and Remus was talking nonsense about Harry. Moreover they had to wake up early for work the following day.

"It's a long story. But I'm telling the truth. Harry is really back. He's here in this dimension with us." Remus tried to convince all his sleepy friends who did not look all that sleepy now.

"Alright, Harry is back." Sirius was now leaning against the wall while listening to Remus talking. "So where is he now?"

"That's the problem. He and Ginny are supposed to be here." Remus confessed. "But I don't know where they are now."

"Who is Ginny?" Arabella asked. They were trying to believe what Remus was saying but it just sounded too far-fetched.

"Harry's girlfriend." Remus' voice was filled with urgency. "Most importantly we need to find them now to ensure their safety first."

"Let's go find them now." James was now convinced by Remus and went back to his room to change. The rest of them followed and changed quickly, within minutes they were back at the common hallway. "Let's split up the different levels. We meet in the hall in ten minutes time." All of them split up into different directions.

X

Harry bent down to pick up the Light Compass which was now lying on the snow. He brushed the snow off before keeping it safely in his pocket.

"Where are we now?" Ginny asked Harry, her voice was shivering slightly from the cold weather. It was snowing slightly and they pulled their cloaks around them tighter.

"Godric's Hollow, I suppose." Harry looked around him. There were many mansions lined along the street. It must have been rather late as there was no one else outside besides them. "Keep your wand handy, we don't know what's lurking out there." He said in a low voice. They touched their back pockets to double check for their wand presence.

"Aren't you glad I'm here with you?" Ginny teased in a light-hearted manner. "Otherwise you would be out here in this strange place all alone."

"Of course I'm glad that you're here." Harry put his arm around Ginny's shoulders. "What do you think we should do right now?"

"Maybe Remus will come looking for us?" Ginny suggested optimistically.

"Harry? Ginny?" A female voice called out behind them.


	130. Harry's Arrival

**Chapter 129: Harry's Arrival**

"They're not in the house." James said the moment he entered the main hall. They had split up to look for Harry and Ginny for the past fifteen minutes and there was not a trace of them around the house.

"What if they're like - outdoors?" Lily asked in a low voice. It was midnight and it would be extremely dangerous outdoors at times like this.

"That's not impossible." Sirius added. "Let's go out together; at least there are five of us." They grabbed their cloaks which were hung by the door and went out into the cold. It was a bad time to be outside and the snow was giving them the chills.

"Don't split up. Let's move around as a group." James ordered. It was snowing lightly and vision was extremely low.

They tried to keep their voice low to prevent any suspicions and yet at the same time searching every possible corners in the humongous garden. After another ten minutes, they gathered in front of the main gate leading to the street outside. Since all of them were able to apparate or use the floo network, there was rarely a need to open the front gate these days.

"Do you think they're out there?" Lily asked; her voice was shivering slightly due to the cold. From where they stood, the street outside was in total silence and there was not a single person in sight.

"Shall we?" Remus prompted. "I don't want them to get lost out there or something."

"Alright. We're in this together." James said a charm to unlock the gates magically and then locked it up again once they were outside. The air outside Potter's Manor felt even colder and spookier, as if the magical protection over them were lifted.

"So where shall we go first?" Arabella asked. They were standing in the middle of the street, not sure which would be the right way to search first.

"Let's try the park." James suggested and the five of them turned briskly towards the direction of the park.

X

"Er.. Sorry, but who are you?" Harry asked. The girl in front of them look no older than both of them and was dressed a simple white dress all the way to the ankles.

"C-can you conjure a cloak for me – me first?" She requested. Harry and Ginny took a step backwards before transfiguring a leaf into a thick beige cloak for the lady. "Thank you."

"Excuse me, but how did you know our names?" Ginny asked as politely as possible. The girl was now sitting on the bench while both of them were standing up.

"You can say that I was Hedwig. But basically, Harry, I was your guardian angel." The girl said very softly. It was odd to see an angel who was afraid of cold. Then again, everything happening now just seemed totally bizarre.

"What do you mean?" Harry asked again. First they had traveled through time back to the unknown past, and now there was a guardian angel coming into the picture.

"It's not safe to talk here. Let me bring you two back to Potter's Manor." She stood up, tightened the cloak around her and walked forward. "Come on, I meant no harm." Strangely, Harry and Ginny felt a sense of security and followed the girl to wherever she was heading to.

X

"Look, there are people ahead." James said in a low voice. They could see an outline of three figures walking towards their direction. "Could it be them?"

"Let's wait till they move a little closer." Remus squinted to see if it was Harry among them. They were now standing close to the exterior fencing of the Potter's Manor in a straight line, hoping that the supporting pillars would block them from the view of the advancing strangers.

"They don't look as dangerous as deatheaters." Sirius muttered to no one in particular. "If they were deatheaters, they definitely didn't seem to dress like those." Despite the dim lighting, the colors of their cloaks were definitely not black.

"Belle, does the person in front remind you of Stef?" Lily whispered to Arabella who was standing close beside her. As the strangers moved nearer, they could see that the person who seemed to be leading the way was slightly more petite than the two following behind.

"Size, yes. But the way she walks, a little different." Arabella strained to see more clearly through the snow.

"Stef?" Remus called out suddenly and all of them turned to face him dumbfounded.

"Remus?" The petite girl who was leading the way replied. She pulled her cloak back to expose a bit more of her pale face. Remus held onto her hands immediately.

"Remus, Stef, let's talk inside." James interrupted their reunion by coming in between them. "You never know if there is anyone spying around or something." They nodded in understanding and carried on walking as if nothing happened. "Harry? Ginny?" He acknowledged the two people behind with a nod. James and Sirius walked behind the group to ensure their safety while Lily led the way back to the main gate.

While Sirius and Remus were standing guard to make sure there was no one else around, James unlocked the door magically and ushered everyone inside before locking the door and casting a protection charm over it once again. The snow had gotten heavier and they walked briskly through the garden and back into the house.

"Stef, you're back!" Remus hugged a very frail-looking Stefanie the moment James closed the front door.

"Yes, I'm back!" Tears were forming in her eyes as she hugged Remus tightly. "I missed you."

"We missed you!" Lily and Arabella engulfed Stefanie into a tight hug once Remus released her.

"Harry, Ginny, thank you for coming back." Remus took their cloaks and hung against the wall while ushering them into the main hall.

James waved his wand and the candles lit up, brightening up the whole room. With another wave, the fire in the fireplace started burning softly warming up the whole room. They quickly dried themselves magically before Remus continued talking.

"Let me introduce. This is Harry and Ginny." Remus did the introduction as he was the only one who had seen Harry and Ginny before. "This is James, Lily, Sirius and Arabella." He pointed to his four friends who were standing at one side. "And this is Stefanie," who was standing beside him. "We mentioned about her back there." Harry and Ginny nodded.

"Welcome!" James gave Harry a firm handshake before shaking Ginny's hand politely. "Do make yourself comfortable here." Remus held his breath for the moment when James touched Harry, fearing there might be any repelling movements.

"Thanks. Er.. dad." Harry was at a lost of words. It was just strange to meet your parents in this manner.

"Call me James. I'm not used to being call dad yet." James joked to lighten the mood around. "It's getting quite late, let's talk about it tomorrow." There were too many questions to ask and it was not a good time to do so at one in the morning.

"Let me show you two to your rooms." James started talking. The guys went on telling Harry a little about themselves, hoping to make him more comfortable with the transition while Ginny were asking Lily and Arabella questions about the current time. On the other hand, Remus accompanied Stefanie to her bedroom directly.

"Ginny, make yourself comfortable here. Look for us if you need anything, we're just next door." James opened the bedroom door next to Stefanie's. "And Harry, your room will be opposite here." He led him to the room facing Ginny's. "This stretch of rooms is for the men here while we those are for the ladies." He pointed to the rooms at the opposite stretch. "Let's save the questions for tomorrow. Good night."

"Good night." Harry said gratefully before entering into his new bedroom at his father's house. It was an extraordinary feeling which he never felt before. Lying onto his new bed, he fell asleep almost instantly.

X

"Lily, you alright?" James asked in concern. Everyone had already retreated into their respective bedrooms except both of them.

"Just feeling a little weird, I guess." Lily shrugged. "Can I stay over at your room tonight?"

"Ah, are you thinking of-?" James winked suggestively.

"Don't even think about it." Lily hit his head. "Take it as I never ask." She opened her room door while James was holding onto her other hand.

"Do you want me to stay with you tonight?" James whispered softly next to her ear.

"Not in the way you're thinking of." Lily laughed. James' breath was quite ticklish on her neck.

"But isn't that what you're thinking of right now?" James held Lily tighter by her waist.

"No. No. No." Lily tried to escape from James' embrace but he was too strong for her.

"Alright, don't tease you for now." James let go of Lily and she went straight to her bed. "Since you're feeling scared and everything, I'll just keep you company here tonight."

"Who said that I was scared of anything?" Lily asked in a willful tone while James sat down next to her on the bed.

"Well, then I should head back to my room. I can hear my bed calling for me." James stood up, pretending to be walking out of her room.

"Alright, alright. I'm scared. Can you stay with me tonight? No tricks." Lily waved her index finger in front of her.

"Sure." James wrapped his hands around Lily's waist and made himself comfortable on her bed.

"Ouch, that's very uncomfortable." Lily pushed James' left hand away while she tried to pull the covers over both of them. Within minutes, both of them were sound asleep.

X

"Wow. I never thought these two sleepyheads will be so early for breakfast." Remus commented the moment James and Lily walked into the dining hall together.

"Not only are they early, they are fully dressed." Stefanie added teasingly. She had invited Harry and Ginny down for breakfast together since they were new here.

"There's always the first time for everything." Arabella laughed as she helped herself with another toast.

"Morning!" Harry and Ginny greeted together as James and Lily took a seat opposite them at the dining table.

"Morning guys!" James concentrated on his breakfast and ignored all his friends teasing comments. It was good to see Remus laughing so happily once again.

"Had a good sleep last night?" Lily asked Harry and Ginny; paying no attention to her three laughing friends.

"Yes, thank you." Ginny said gratefully while Harry just nodded simply.

"Did anyone see Pr-?" Sirius' voice could be heard before he even appeared in the dining hall. "Lily? James?" He was even more surprised to see his two friends in the dining hall before himself. "That's weird. You were not in your room when I checked earlier." He started grinning mischievously.

"That's because we are here earlier." James said nonchalantly. "Eat your breakfast." He chucked a piece of bacon into Sirius' mouth before he could continue talking.

"Good morning." Helen's voice was chirpy as she entered the dining hall. "Wow. What a crowd today. Stef, oh my god, you are back! How are you?" She gave Stef a motherly hug before settling down for an empty seat beside Sirius.

"Thanks, Mrs. Potter. I'm doing fine." Stefanie beamed, looking much more radiant than the night before with ample rest.

"It's wonderful having you back again. What happened to you?" Helen asked in deep concern.

"It's kind of a long story. I'm back for good this time." Stefanie said gratefully. Mrs. Potter, though rarely seen around the house, had treated all of them with great hospitality. "Thanks for your concern."

"Mum, this is Harry and Ginny." James introduced the two new additions at the breakfast table. He had no idea how to tell his mother that they were from the future. Helen raised her brows in surprise.

"Oh, I've never heard you mentioning about them before. So when did you arrive?" Helen asked Harry and Ginny politely.

"Last night." Harry answered honestly. He looked at James, as if asking him what he should say next.

"Mum, er.. this sounds a little complicated." James started. Everyone remained silent, listening to what James had to say. "Harry and Ginny are from – the future. They're here to help us to defeat Voldemort."

"I must be hearing things." Helen chuckled. "How can they return to the past just like this? Remus?" She was keeping an open mind to what the kids had to say.

"I brought them back from the future with the help of the Light Compass." Remus said as a matter-of-fact.

"Oh, so the Light Compass does exist." Helen gushed. "It had always been a legendary magical object."

"W-muat azactly is it?" Sirius asked in between his mouthfuls of food.

"One of those mythical stuffs we learn in History of Magic. Briefly touched on but no one knows for sure if it existed." Helen told them. "I don't think there was a lot of information given about it. Anyway, back to Harry," She looked up and studied Harry's features. "What's your family name?"

"Potter." Harry answered and Helen nearly choked on her eggs. "Oh-"

"Mrs. Potter, are you alright?" Ginny handed her some serviettes and poured a goblet of water for her.

"Oh – ya, sure. And your parents are?" Helen looked astonished while James and Lily were blushing away.

"James and Lily." Harry answered truthfully. Helen raised her brows and to everyone's astonishment, she burst into laughter.

"This must be the most interesting breakfast I ever have." Helen laughed, totally ignoring James and Lily's embarrassment. "To see my grandson all grown up eating breakfast with me. And Ginny is?"

"My girlfriend." Harry and Ginny was blushing as furiously as James and Lily now. Sirius, Remus, Stefanie and Arabella were struggling to not laugh too loudly and staring at their breakfast with undivided attention.

"That's really interesting." Helen seemed to notice the expressions among the youngsters. "I better get going. You all have a good day ahead. And don't hold back your laughter; it's not good for you." She smiled warmly before departing the dining table, grabbing her handbag with one hand and toast on the other. Four of them heaved a loud sigh of relief while another four broke into uncontrolled laughter.

"Three generations of Potter-" Sirius started commenting before James shut him up with another piece of bacon.

"That was certainly very interesting." Stefanie commented. "I don't remember seeing Mrs. Potter laughing so much before."

"Seeing you here must have made her day." Remus told Harry and Ginny openly. "So I guess there must be a lot of questions everyone wanted to ask, shall we get started?"

"Is there anything you want to know?" Lily asked warmly when Harry and Ginny was not responding to Remus' invitation.

"There are a lot of things I want to know but not sure how to get started." Harry admitted. "The only people I ever knew were Remus and – Sirius."

"How about you start with telling us about the future?" James prompted.

"Okay, erm.. both of you er.. died.. on Halloween's night when I was one year old." Harry summarized. What had happened to him all these years were too lengthy to be repeated over a short breakfast. "Then I was sent to stay with Aunt Petunia." Lily gasped before regaining composure in a few seconds. "When I was eleven, I received my Hogwarts letter and Hagrid helped me a lot to get use to this life. He was the one who bought Hedwig, my owl, for me." He turned to look at Stefanie who nodded supportively. "Then on my third year, Sirius Black escaped from Azkaban-"

"How can I even get into Azkaban in the first place?" Sirius exclaimed, scandalized at the fact that he was a prisoner.

"Padfoot, calm down." James pulled Sirius back to his sitting position.

"Actually Pettigrew was the one who betrayed everyone." Everyone gasped in shock.

"W-wormtail?" James asked.

"H-how-?" Remus was at a loss of words too.

"Yes. That bastard was on Voldemort's side." Harry's voice was filled with anger. "And then after that Sirius got killed by Bellatrix."

"That bitch." Sirius stood up again, muttering profanities, but this time, Remus and James pulled him back to his seat.

"Many more people had sacrificed; even Dumbledore was killed by Snape-"

"What?" All of them were shocked to hear that even their most respected wizard was killed by the slimiest git on earth.

"H-how could that be possible?" Lily spluttered.

"It was possible. The Deatheaters entered Hogwarts led by Draco Malfoy. Snape was a double agent." Harry closed his eyes, as though the thoughts were too painful to be reminded.

"Let's not continue on. It's too much for them." Arabella intervened, seeing that Harry was struggling with his memories.

"Harry, we talk about this later." James said solemnly. He handed Harry a goblet of milk.

"Harry, take a sip first." Ginny patted Harry's back and moving the goblet closer to his mouth. "All these years have been difficult for him." Ginny continued for Harry. "He was known as The-Boy-Who-Lived since he defeated Voldemort when he was one. The name Harry Potter was famous in the wizarding world and his lightning shaped scar on his forehead that had vanished along with Voldemort's death. He came face-to-face with Voldemort when he was in first year; saved me from Tom Riddle and the Basilisk in the second; fight with dementors and found the truth of Pettigrew in the third; took part in the Tri-wizard tournament and witness our fellow schoolmate's death in front of Voldemort in the fourth; undergo all the emotional stress and set up the Dumbledore's Army in the fifth; witness Dumbledore's death in his sixth and finally vanquishing the dark lord in his final year." Ginny told all of them. "It wasn't an easy life for him as what other might think."

"Harry, we're sorry to hear that." James said softly while the rest remain quiet.

"It's not any of your faults." Harry mumbled inaudibly. "It's all Voldemort's doing."

"Harry, we'll try to make it up for you." Lily's eyes were wet, feeling sorry to hear such a traumatizing experience her future son had to go through.

"That's not the point." Harry looked up. "We're here hoping to change the past so all our lives will be easier than what we had gone through and to avoid all the unnecessary casualties. I don't know how much time we've here, but Voldemort must be defeated before we're gone." Ginny gave him a support pat on his back.

"Well said, speak like a Potter indeed." Sirius added encouragingly. "Meanwhile let's eat more so we can have the energy we need to defeat Voldemort." Everyone could not help but laughed slightly at Sirius' carefree comment.


	131. New Year New Relations

**Chapter 130: New Year New Relations**

"Jeez, need to get back in another twenty minutes." Lily groaned as she leaned against the back of the chair. The eight of them had managed to synchronize their schedules so that they could share a New Year Day lunch together in Potter's Manor.

"Don't remind me." Sirius mumbled, slouching in the chair. "I had barely enough rest with all the false alarms." For the past twenty four hours, there had been many commotions at various magically villages. Moody had insisted that they had to be on foot all day round to ensure the people's safety and avoid another incident like the one on Boxing Day.

"At least you guys are going to have your off days after all these festive days." Arabella reminded them. "While I'll get back to work with those brats after that." She took another slice of Tiramisu from the tray.

"Belle, you can't complain!" Sirius exclaimed. "You had practically ten days off in a row while we can only have that in our dreams."

"Padfoot, calm down." Remus tried to stabilize Sirius on his seat. "I'll be having my transformation three days after New Year, how good does that sound?" Stefanie squeezed his hand from under the table.

"Sorry." Sirius apologized. All of them turned to see Harry's and Ginny's reaction towards Remus' comment.

"We know," Harry admitted. "That Remus is a werewolf. And both of you are unregistered animagi along with that-" He stopped in mid-sentence, not wanting to be reminded of Pettigrew.

"What can we do with Wormtail now?" James asked. "Knowing that he is the culprit who betrays us all."

"Kill him." Sirius muttered in anger.

"We can't. We've no prove." Lily added. "Shall we warn Dumbledore about it?"

"I don't mean to criticize Dumbledore or what. But he had trusted Snape in the future, who turned out to be a double agent but supporting Voldemort all the while. How can we be sure Dumbledore believe what we say?" Harry asked.

"You've got a point there. Meanwhile I think we definitely need to do something about Wormtail." James commented. "How about we keep this just within the eight of us, not even Dumbledore?"

"I don't know. But this just doesn't seem right." Stefanie spoke up. "There might be a lot of other details we're not aware of."

"Stef got a point there. So far, other than Mrs. Potter, we don't know if anyone else remembers her." Remus reminded them. "And there are a lot of unsolved riddles for all this. It's like we really need to come together for a brainstorm session one of these days soon."

"Let's make it the coming weekend when everything is more toned down." Sirius suggested. "Besides, the faster we get these things settled, the better it is for everyone."

"It sounds alright. I guess I better apply for leave later." Lily nodded in agreement.

"Arh.." James groaned when he felt his wand vibrating in his pocket. "We've got to go now." He told Sirius and Remus who gave the same dreading expression. "Take care. See you tomorrow." James bent down and kissed Lily on her lips, not knowing that Harry was sitting right across and looking straight at their exchange of affection, and feeling quite embarassed. At the other side of the table, Remus was giving Stefanie a goodbye kiss before leaving with James and Sirius.

"You take care too." Lily's hand lingered a while longer on James' hand before he left the hall. "I supposed I'll need to go in another few minutes time." She gave a loud sigh. "You know I'm so jealous of all of you right now."

"Don't be." Stefanie said sadly. "I don't even know if I'm supposed to be in existence from the way Remus told me about it. No one else seems to remember me other than you guys."

"Isn't that enough?" Lily laughed. "We're all that you need. Or should I rephrase to – Remus is all that you ever need?"

"Hey!" Stefanie tickled Lily's side and she screamed while trying to defense herself.

"Aahh!" Lily practically went underneath the dining table while trying to duck from Stefanie.

"So can you imagine your mum like this?" Arabella asked in a low voice, knowing that Lily was probably too distracted to hear her.

"Not really." Harry grinned. It was another interesting meal with the six of them for both Harry and Ginny.

"You probably should go back to their schooldays to see what they have been doing in school." Arabella shook her head. "Lily, you can come out now." She knocked the table to inform Lily who was still hiding underneath the table.

"Ouch." Lily's voice could be heard from under the table after a soft bang. "Sorry." She looked at her watch which had been charmed to move automatically in a magical environment. "Oops, I'm running late." She grabbed her duffel bag by the armchair and with a quick 'Bye, guys!' she left the dining hall in a flash.

"So what do you think of your parents?" Stefanie asked while the four of them were the only ones remaining after their lunch.

"Interesting." Harry laughed slightly, "not at all like the way I imagined them to be." Ginny just smiled silently beside Harry.

"What's your date of birth?" Arabella asked suddenly.

"31st July 1980." Harry told them.

"That's like next year." Arabella gushed while doing some mental calculations. "And this means that that two have to do – it - by November this year!"

"Oh, that's like exactly eleven months to go." Stefanie laughed. "Lily isn't going to like the thought of that."

"I think that might also mean that we only have eleven months here to defeat Voldemort." Harry stated grimly.

"Harry, I think you're right. We really need to do something within this short time frame." Stefanie said apprehensively. "We don't know what will happen if James and Lily didn't-"

"Let's not talk about the uncertainties." Ginny said after a moment of silence when Stefanie did not complete her sentence.

"We rarely can have all the food to ourselves, let's not waste it." Arabella said in a happier tone of voice. "Leave the serious discussion till this weekend."

"Do eat more." Stefanie scooped some pasta and sausages for Harry and Ginny. "I think you two rarely see such a spread outside Hogwarts."

"Thanks." Harry helped himself to the food gratefully. "Can you tell us who – or what exactly are you?"

"And what happened after you vanished without a trace last month?" Arabella asked out of curiosity.

"Talk about that, it's really strange." Stefanie started telling her version of story. "I fell into this deep dreamless sleep and then when I woke up, I was at this foreign place. I supposed it's on a high ground like mountain top or something; all I can see are just greenery, trees, rocks, etc. Then there was this voice from nowhere, or perhaps from heavens above, giving me instructions."

"What sort of instructions?" Arabella asked.

"The voice told me to protect Harry Potter, son of Lily and James." Stefanie said simply.

"And then?" Harry asked when Stefanie finished her sentence.

"What else?" Arabella asked at the same time.

"That's all. Then the next thing I remembered I was in Diagon Alley Eeylops Owl Emporium, as an owl. I've no idea how and why but I was just there. Take it as I was trap in an owl's body or something."

"But Hedwig never exactly protect me or anything of that sort." Harry said.

"I've to fulfill my duty as your owl, but I know that I'm supposed to be protecting you in ways that's beyond the magic we know. Before you enter Hogwarts, there's the blood of your aunt protecting you, but in Hogwarts, you need a protection charm as strong as your aunt. Of course you had faced more dangers than anyone else, but all I can ensure was that you will not die before returning back here." Stefanie told them. "I don't know why I was chosen to do so, but I'm really glad you are fine and reunite with your parents."

"Thanks for your company all these years. It could have been worse without you at the Dursleys." Harry said appreciatively.

"It's not too bad being an owl actually. Seen lots of places from a _bird's eye_ view." Stefanie joked. "What's matter most is that we're all back together."

"Harry, just wondering if I'm in any part of your future?" Arabella asked as if she just thought of the question.

"Erm.. what's your surname?" Harry asked. They only had a first name introduction two nights before.

"Figg."

"I do know of a Mrs. Figg. But you don't look like her at all." Harry thought of his baby-sitter who was actually Dumbledore's Order member. "She's much older. In fact even after twenty years, you should be only in your thirties, but she looked like as if in her fifties."

"That's strange." Arabella questioned. "But are you sure she's Arabella Figg?"

"I'm quite sure, I supposed. That's what D-Dumbledore said." Arabella was sure that Harry was not lying to her. "And she loves cats."

"If she's Mrs. Figg, that would be mum, but why is it Arabella?" Arabella mumbled.

"Could Arabella be your mum's middle name or something?" Stefanie asked. "We never really know her name other than Sarah Figgs, and Sarah could just be an abbreviated name for Arabella."

"That's true. But she's a squib." Harry said. "Is Mrs. Figg-?"

"Nope. She's our DADA teacher." Stefanie answered and turned to her friend. "But Arabella – she.."

"I lost my powers several years ago." Arabella did not want to let Harry know about the truth, at least not for the time being. "It could jolly well be me. Perhaps when everyone is gone, I age faster?" She continued in a light-hearted manner. "Let's just hope that won't happen."

"It won't." Harry said in determination.

"Thanks for the vote of confident." Arabella said gratefully as she patted Harry's shoulder. "I want you to know that we will forever be grateful that you are willing to come back here to help us." She turned to Ginny. "And you too. You're truly a Gryffindor. Who are your parents by the way?"

"Arthur and Molly Weasley." Ginny replied with pride as she spoke of her parents.

"Ooh!" Arabella exclaimed. "They were Head Girl and Head Boy when I was in my first year. Such wonderful people that I remember. I do think you have an older brother Charlie or something. Heard that they had a son several years ago."

"Yes, in fact I've six brothers." Ginny told them. Arabella was the only one who looked surprised.

"I can imagine them having a bunch of children. That's so wonderful. We must really take you to meet them one of these days. And do you know your uncles? Fabian and Gideon are aurors too." Arabella asked.

"They died before I was born. I've never met them." Ginny said in a low voice.

"Oh, I'm sorry." Arabella apologized. "I didn't-"

"It's not your fault." Ginny said quickly. "But I would love to meet them if I've the chance. Heard mum and dad mentioned about them several times before."

"Sure. That can be arranged." Arabella turned to Stefanie who nodded in agreement. "Perhaps we should take you out there to see how the world in the seventies seems like. Shall we go to Diagon Alley to take a look? Then you two can tell us how different it looks twenty years from now."

"Sure." Harry and Ginny were excited to see how things were like in their parents' era.

"But I'm afraid we need to floo there. I'm non-magical and can't apparate." Arabella told them.

"It's okay, I miss flooing too." Stefanie put her arm around Arabella's shoulder.

"Thanks."

"What are we waiting for? Let's go." They went back to their rooms to grab their belongings before flooing over to Diagon Alley for the afternoon.

X

"Harry?" James turned back and called out the person whom he walked past at Hogsmeade. "What are you doing here?" He asked Harry out of concern.

"Arabella and Stefanie brought us here. The girls went into the robes shop." Harry told him. They had brought them to Diagon Alley earlier and moving on to the next destination at Hogsmeade to continue their shopping trip. At this moment, Arabella and Stefanie brought Ginny to check out their latest fashion while Harry had chosen to wait outside the shop.

"Oh – alright. Let me introduce, this is Harry." James told Edgar. "And this is Edgar Bones, a very respectable auror."

"Hello." Edgar shook Harry's hand firmly. "From Hogwarts too?" He nodded. "I didn't know you have a brother." He turned to James in surprised.

"Oh, he's my cousin." James said quickly. It would be difficult to explain his true identity to Edgar anyway.

"You two look very much alike." Edgar laughed. "I can easily mistake both of you as twins."

"That's what everyone says." James chuckled a little uncomfortably. "We better get going." He told Edgar. "You guys enjoy yourselves." He nodded to Harry.

"We will." Harry nodded. "It's nice meeting you, Edgar."

"Take care and keep your wand handy." Edgar advised. "And not forgetting, Happy New Year."

"You two have a good day at work too." Harry gave a lopsided grin very much similar to James'. "Bye."

"Never knew you had a cousin who looked so much like you." Edgar commented the moment he turned away from Harry and continued his patrol with James.

"He doesn't come over often. That's why." James was hoping that Edgar would forget about his meeting with Harry soon. It would be worse if the others know about it. After all, Harry, and Ginny were not supposed to exist in this era.

"I see." Edgar took no notice of James' uncomfortable expression. "Let's go over to Knockturn Alley." He said grimly. Going to that part of Diagon Alley had never been a good thing; they found Frank and Alice there, half dead, just a couple of weeks go.

"Not that we have a choice anyway." James muttered. He pulled his cloak closer and felt his wand which was safety tucked in his back pocket.

X

"Wow, looks like you all went on a shopping spree." Lily knocked on the Ginny's bedroom door. The floor was filled with bags of clothes and shoes. "Can I come in?"

"Sure." Ginny said happily, practically bouncing like a little girl. "Stef and Bell bought all these for me."

"Sounds brilliant." Lily agreed, smiling away despite a long day of work on a public holiday.

"Ginny definitely needs more clothes than what she brought along with her." Stefanie commented, eyeing the backpack she carried two nights ago. "And it has been such a long time since we last went shopping. It's a pity you can't be there with us." She took out some tee-shirts and blouses, and magicked them into the large wardrobe.

"It's okay. Most importantly you like them." Lily said. "It sure looks a little different from the clothes you have been wearing."

"It's a new style for me actually. But I supposed cloaks are the fashion items in every era." Ginny told them. "They look similar to those in the future."

"All magical folks wear them, can't go out of fashion." Arabella joked.

"These are pretty useful when there's dueling too." Ginny took out some jeans and denim jackets, which was charmed to provide extra cushion protection to break falls.

"We got one for you too." Stefanie fished out the bag full of denim jackets. "We got one for each of us."

"Wow. Thanks. This will come in handy." Lily put on the jacket and looked at her reflection in the three-sided full length mirror. "Let me personalize it." She muttered a quick charm, a small red and gold calligraphic letter 'L' slowly emerged on the right breast pocket flap.

"Cool." Ginny said enthusiastically. "Can you teach me the charm for it?"

"Sure." Lily taught Ginny the simple incantation to embroider a red and gold alphabet 'G'. "Can be used on any fabric material, at least that's what Witch Weekly quoted. I haven't practice enough to support that comment."

"Brilliant." Ginny added the embroidered 'G' magically on her right breast pocket flap as well. "Seems like those muggle brand logos."

"That's what I felt too." Lily agreed. "We used this charm on our tops when we were still in school."

"That was like in – fourth year?" Stefanie reflected. It had been a longer lapse for her as compared the rest. She had lived through seven years longer than all of them but had not age a single day since her departure a month ago.

"Yeah, that was so much fun." Lily reminisced. "We were so young and carefree back then." They laughed at the recollection. "Not that we're not young or carefree now, but Hogwarts days were just brilliant."

"They are indeed." Arabella nodded in agreement. Though unable to complete the seven years of magical education, she had wonderful memories of the school life.

"It's a pity that I didn't get to enjoy my final year yet." Ginny said wistfully. "But Hogwarts is a lot of dangerous now than before. There're like so many ways for outsiders to enter the school these days. I still remember Harry and Ron, my brother, flew to Hogwarts in our flying Ford Anglia in their second year because they claimed that they missed the train."

"Oh my gosh!" Lily and Arabella gasped in surprise.

"That was my worse car ride in my whole life." Stefanie shook her head. "It's nightmarish. Trust me; you won't want to try it." She muttered incoherently.

"It sounds _exciting_." Lily shrieked. "I've never traveled in a flying car before!"

"And Ron got a Howler from my mum the next day." Ginny laughed at the thought. "I've never seen the car again. Besides Ron was only twelve and he's the driver, can you imagine?"

"Now that's a little scary sounding." Arabella commented. "But I like the whole flying car thing."

"Sirius owned a flying motorbike anyway." Ginny added. "It looks much better than our old car."

"I don't know about Sirius' skills but I must absolutely try riding a flying bike." Lily gushed. "It sounds so thrilling at the thought of it."

"He mentioned a couple of times over the years, didn't know he was serious about getting it." Stefanie commented. "But that's the truth, let's just wait and see when he's buying one."

"With that auror's pay, he'll have no problem owning a few flying motorbikes." Arabella said, "The aurors are holding the highest pay in today's time."

"But you must admit that it's a dangerous job." Stefanie's voice was a little serious. "They risk their life for our safety."

"That's true." Lily muttered and her voice switched almost instantly. "Well, let me see what else did you babes bought." She picked up another paper bag from the floor.

"Oh, I bought this absolutely brilliant pair of jeans that have charmed pockets." Arabella looked through a couple of paper bags before picking up a blue-colored one.

X

Harry opened his room door and had wanted to talk to Ginny when he heard the exciting chattering in her room. _Girls' talk._ The four girls were talking and laughing very loudly about clothes and shopping when suddenly he heard his name mentioned.

"I still remember Harry and Ron, my brother, flew to Hogwarts in our flying Ford Anglia in their second year because they claimed that they missed the train."

"Oh my gosh!"

"That was my worse car ride in my whole life."

_That was mine too._ Harry chuckled at the thought of being a passenger in Ron's car. _I'm glad I made it to Hogwarts in one piece._ It was a funny thought now that everything was over. But it had been a terrifying experience there and then. _I guess I better not disturb them for awhile. _He closed his room door.

Although he had bought some clothes and shoes today, since it was a female-dominated shopping trip, he practically had no say in what he wanted. Then again, it was a fully paid for shopping trip by Stefanie and he was very grateful with her generosity. She said that it was just a thank-you gift for treating her owl self so well back in the future and this was just to repay him. _Sigh, it's going to be a long year ahead. _He laid in his bed as his major life's event flashed through his head.


	132. Family Fun

**Chapter 131: Family Fun**

"Ok, now what?" Sirius asked bluntly. They had arranged to gather after dinner and discussed about strategies to defeat Voldemort.

"Padfoot, can't you see we're thinking?" James told him again. Sirius would keep asking the same thing after five minute of silence among the group.

"Well, we've to get the root of this doing." Remus reminded them again. So far, they had been thinking a superficial level.

"What is the root of this evil except Voldemort?" Sirius asked in a frank and even mildly candid tone. They had similar discussions before but to no success.

"Slytherin." Harry suggested. After all, Voldemort was a descendant of Slytherin.

"Do you mean that we go back to thousands of years ago to revert the history?" Lily asked.

"And if there're any mistakes, the results could have been disastrous." Remus pointed out. No one would have known it better than him.

"Are we going to travel back through time the way Harry and Ginny did?" James frowned at the thought of it.

"Actually that sounds like the only way." Stefanie spoke up. "Even Dumbledore can't defeat him. And besides we had tried many ideas and haven't been successful."

"It is the what-ifs that sound daunting." Arabella stated. "Any bit of meddling with distant history can magnify the results thousands of times." She was frowning slightly as she spoke.

"Let's say if we proceed with this, what do you think will happen to the present time?" Ginny asked. Everyone remained silent, not knowing what the answer was.

"I'll try to check it out." Remus said. "Let's say that we decide to go back to ancient times and change Slytherin's opinion on muggleborns."

"Let me go with you." Stefanie placed her hand on Remus' lap.

"It might be dangerous." Remus disagreed. "And you're not in the best conditions."

"I'm in the condition as well as you are." Stefanie argued. Remus just had his transformation two nights ago and was not in his best shape.

"I agree with Stef, you need to rest now."

"James, Sirius, both of you know that I'm as fit as any other day." Remus gave a very determined look. "And I'll be fine."

"I won't stop you." James told Remus. "But do let Stef go with you just in case."

"Take this Light Compass along with you, just in case." Harry took out the triangular disk with three rounded-edges from his pocket and handed over to Stefanie.

"Thanks." Stefanie nodded to Harry. "We'll be back soon." With a nodded, both of them vanished from the couch they were sitting on seconds ago. The rest remained silent for quite some time before Sirius broke the silence.

"Shall I get us some finger food while waiting?" Sirius stood up and popped the question. James chuckled at Sirius blatant outburst.

"That would be nice." Arabella responded while no one else said anything. Sirius went straight to the kitchens immediately.

After what felt like fifteen minutes, Sirius reappeared with a large tray of food floating behind him.

"I've got everything, from fried nuggets to egg tarts." Sirius announced as he magicked the oversized tray onto the coffee table.

"Let's dig in. We need more energy to get better ideas." James said light-heartedly and scooped a chicken pie into his serving dish for Lily.

"No point sitting here in silence. They will be back before we know it, like always." Lily said optimistically.

Within five minutes, Remus and Stefanie reappeared on the couch once again, looking windblown.

"So how is it?" Sirius asked immediately.

"I don't know. We didn't manage to find anything." Remus said in a rather disappointed tone. "The actions are too vague to determine what could have happen." He took out the Light Compass from his pocket and placed it lightly on the coffee table.

"The changes we saw didn't look very significant." Stefanie continued for Remus. "But there might be hidden modifications that could be more disastrous."

"Bell had made a very good point about changing history." James pointed out. "We can't afford to make any mistakes that could jeopardize the current times."

"But then if we don't try, we won't know what will happen." Lily frowned.

"Who agree with me to go to the past and change our history?" Sirius asked as he raised his right hand. The rest looked at one another, each of them deep in their thoughts. For several minutes, nobody spoke.

"As long as we believe, miracles can happen." Arabella said suddenly. "I will go to the past with you."

"We've to give it a try." James said with determination. "There're no other choices."

"Of course we're all here to create miracles." Lily said positively. "What are we waiting for?" Remus and Stefanie looked at each other, debating between their rational self and friends' persistence.

"Well, we won't know unless we give it a try." Stefanie said after a few moments of silence. "Shall we?"

"Sorry, I don't mean to be un-cooperative or something. I just feel that we should have a better idea of what we intend to do there first. Any slight mistakes will lead to a greater catastrophe." Remus insisted on his point. "Do you get what I mean?"

"Yes, we understand your point." James said empathetically. "But then, don't you think the current situation our community is in now is considered a catastrophe?"

"I know what you mean." Remus sighed. "We don't really have much of a choice but to take this gamble."

"That's it then." James took the lead. "Have a good rest tonight and we'll set off tomorrow morning." He stood up and stacked the emptied plates together.

"I'm not too sure about all these." Stefanie and Remus walked out of the hall talking in low voices about their insecurities and doubts in this plan.

Arabella followed and walked slightly behind them. _Let's hope this works. And then I may just get my magical abilities back. _With a glimmer of hope of becoming a witch once more, she picked up speed in returning back to her bedroom.

"Bell, why are you walking so fast?" Sirius called out from the back. Apparently it seemed like Arabella had not heard him calling her.

"You get some rest too." Lily told James as she helped him with the plates. Before they had managed to finish clearing, two house elves came into the hall and cleared the plates magically. "Have you forgotten that you're officially allowed to use magic outside Hogwarts?"

"Actually, I've forgot about that." James laughed at himself. "I must be tired."

"I realized." Lily chuckled. "Harry, Ginny, aren't you two going to bed yet?"

"Erm, yeah, soon." Harry mumbled incoherently. "Actually I haven't really talked to both of you since I came back." He looked on the floor as he spoke. Ginny seemed to sense that he wanted to share some private moments with his parents and said a quick 'Good night' before disappearing off to the hallway.

"That's true." Lily said softly and took a seat beside Harry. "We've been too busy. Sorry about that."

"It must have been terrible growing up without parents." James took a seat back at the adjunction couch next to Harry.

"I'm afraid I might not be a good mother to you since you are almost my age, but I'll try my best." Lily admitted. It was really quite strange to have your future son sitting next to you at your future husband's house somewhere late in the night.

"Both of you have been great." Harry said. "It's just that all these years, I've always been hoping to meet both of you." He relaxed as he spoke. "I remember the first time I actually saw my family was in my first year, in the Mirror of Erised."

"That's the mirror where you can see your deepest desires." James commented. The Marauders had several encounters with the mirror occasionally in their late-night wanderings back in Hogwarts.

"Then after Christmas, Hagrid gave me an album full of your pictures - magical photos – it was wonderful." Harry remembered when he first seen the album, he was ecstatic. "And Dumbledore gave me your invisibility cloak."

"Oh no, he didn't." Lily was not sure why she said that.

"How did my cloak ended up with him?" James asked. "I still have my cloak with me right now."

"I remembered I packed in my bag before we came back, but somehow it had vanished." Harry told them. "Perhaps the same cloak can't exist in duplicates or something."

"Right." James nodded, as a signal for Harry to continue.

"Then in my forth year when I faced with Voldemort." Lily shuddered at the thought of her son facing Voldemort at the age of fourteen. "Our wands met and created a Priori Incantatem."

"You saw us." Lily knew what the spell meant.

"That was probably the closest time when both of you were standing by my side, other than now." Harry recalled. "It's a wonderful feeling if not for the situation I was in."

"Oh, we're so sorry that we can't be there with you when you were dueling with Voldemort." Lily gave Harry a bone-crushing hug.

"Erm -" Harry started, "Mum," as he tried to calm Lily down by patting her back gently.

"Lily, you're crushing Harry." James chuckled. It was strange seeing the maternal side of Lily for a change.

"Oh, am I?" Lily released Harry instantly. "Oops." She grinned sheepishly. "Oh, do continue."

"Well, there's isn't much really." Harry waved off his life-threatening events through his life.

"How did you ended up facing Voldemort?" James frowned. It would not be possible for Harry to be exposed to such dangers in the safety of Hogwarts.

"It's a long story, but the Triwizard cup-"

"What Triwizard cup?" Lily interrupted Harry again. "You didn't attempt to take part in the Triwizard Tournament or something, did you?"

"Actually I did, not willingly of course." Harry tried to summarize the whole ordeal about the Triwizard Tournament for his parents' understanding. "Wormtail killed Cedric Diggory with the Killing Curse and somehow I won the tournament."

"Diggory, as in Amos Diggory's son." James assumed. There had been rumors around the Hogwarts graduates that Amos had proposed to his girlfriend but none of them had been bothered to seek the truth.

"That's him, alright." Harry confirmed.

"He'll be devastated to learn that." Lily said sympathetically. "Anyone would."

"That's why we need to change the course of events, so all of Harry's future will not come true." James narrowed his eyes in determination.

"Actually there're parts that I still hope will come true." Harry grinned, and winked as James. Both wizards laughed at the same time.

"Okay, is there something I'm not catching?" Lily crossed her hands at her chest.

"Nothing much actually." James gave a similar lopsided grin. "Now what other life-endangering events have my brave son faced?" He quickly changed the topic before Lily would start bugging them for it. That was, after all, a male's joke.

"Honestly, I've lost count." Harry snorted. "I don't exactly enjoy keeping in track how many times I was nearly killed, to put it mildly."

"Alright, it's getting late." James' watch was showing 0022 hours. "We need ample rest to prepare for tomorrow."

"Harry, it's really nice learning more about you." Lily patted his upper arm since she was not tall enough to pat his shoulders normally. "We can do this again some other time, maybe when we're back there." They all knew what the 'there' meant - the distant past. They started heading back to their bedrooms together, making small talks about food and jokes.

"Thanks." Harry smiled, this was the time he had longed for all his life. To walk together, to talk to them and to see them as real people. "Oh – and one more thing." Harry paused by his opened room. "Do you want me to call you by your names or by - er.. relation?" James and Lily shared a bemused expression.

"Whichever you want." Lily tilted her head a little, smiling fondly at him.

"Up to you." James said what he thought was the most fatherly sounding.

"Alright, good night - dad, good night - mum." Harry said a little slowly, it was really weird but yet wonderful.

"Good night, Harry." James and Lily said at the same time. They chuckled at their synchrony.

"So Harry, do you want us to tuck you to bed or something?" Lily joked when Harry was still not going into his room.

"That would be nice." Harry played along with his mother.

"Alrighty." Lily laughed and turned to shove Harry back into his room. James caught up and pulled up Harry's comforters, waiting for him to lie down before throwing it above him.

"Aad, you're covering my head too." Harry flipped the sheets over and exposed his head on the large pillows.

"Not experienced in this field." James joked and straightened the sides. It was certainly a funny sight to see three eighteen-year-olds behaving in such a manner.

"Okay, good night sweet dreams." Lily climbed onto Harry's bed and gave him a good night kiss on his forehead.

"Sleep tight, son." James ruffled Harry's hair, making it a lot messier than before. "It would be strange if I kiss you on the forehead."

"Yeah." Harry grinned. "But I don't think I'll mind that." Lily looked up at James expectantly, shooting him a look as if challenging him if he dared to kiss his son good night.

"That's it." James bent down and gave a quick peck on Harry's forehead. Both Lily and Harry burst into laughter while he turned a few shades redder. "Good night and stop laughing." This only made Lily and Harry laughed even louder.

"Alright, if we carry on any longer, it probably gonna go all the way to breakfast." Lily tried to stifle her laughter. "We all need some rest tonight. James, let's go." Both of them climbed out of Harry's bed.

"Thanks for your time." Harry said appreciatively.

"Anytime for you, Harry." Lily smiled warmly at Harry before pulling a red-faced James out of his bedroom.

"That was so embarrassing." James muttered once they were out of earshot from Harry.

"That's a very – how should I put it, fatherly – side of you." Lily laughed. "You couldn't have done it better, or funnier."

"Yeah, thank you very much for the vote of confident." James mumbled, not in a bad way. "You better get some rest too. See you tomorrow morning, or should I say later?"

"You too. Nitey." Lily tiptoed and gave James a peck on his lips before returning into her bedroom with a lingering gaze.

_What a night. Totally embarrassing. Sirius better not know this or I'll never live it down._ James thought as he closed his bedroom door behind him. Taking off his top and flinging it onto the armchair, he went straight into bed and falling asleep almost instantly.

X

"Oh, Daddy James, good morning." Sirius said in this off-key high-pitched tune. Harry, Ginny and Arabella burst into laughter again at Sirius' animated being. "Aren't you going to kiss me good morning?" He continued taunting James when he sat down without giving him the time of the day.

The other three laughed even louder. Harry was actually telling Ginny about last night when Sirius came into the dining area and heard fragments of their conversation. With some persuasion, Harry gave in and told him the whole encounter with his parents the night before. Arabella then came in five minutes later after hearing their playful laughter and made them tell her what was going on.

"Shut up." James continued buttering his toast and ignoring his laughing friends which only made them laugh even harder.

"What's the joke about?" Lily asked perkily as she joined them at the dining table. They were all laughing too hard to even start talking. "James?"

"You won't want to know." James muttered grouchily due to the lack of sleep.

"We were teasing-" Sirius burst into another fit of laughter before he could continue.

"Actually Sirius was teasing James about last night." Harry managed to stop laughing for a moment to update Lily about the conversation.

"About him kissing you good night?" Lily grinned. When all of them burst into another round of laughing, she knew that she had made a correct guess. "Right, that was funny." She was laughing as she scooped some scrambled eggs onto her serving plate.

"We could hear you laughing all the way from our rooms, share the joke." Remus and Stefanie took a seat between James and Sirius at the breakfast table. Sirius had moved further away from James so he could not shove food into his mouth at the least expected moment.

"It's a long story." Sirius said dramatically. "It all started last night-" He seemed to be attempting to re-enact the scene but making it more exaggerated than it was. "-and James-" Sirius bent his head over Remus', until their noses were nearly touching when Remus shoved his face away. "-kissed Harry-" Sirius gave the sweetest sigh he could muster.

"What?" Stefanie and Remus asked in shocked.

"You may want to complete the sentence." Harry wiped his mouth with the napkin before more food could spill out from his mouth.

"Good night." Sirius finished with him leaning back on his chair, looking totally in bliss. Remus was choking on his milk while Stefanie was laughing so hard until she could not swallow her food.

"That – that was very nice of you." Remus told James encouragingly while trying not to burst into rude laughter like the rest of them. Even Lily could not help but laughed softly at Sirius' drama. Honestly it was not that funny actually, but Sirius had added his own imagination with exaggeration of the actual scenario that made it funnier. James' blushing with Lily's reddening face only added on to the comical effect.

"Padfoot, I dare you kiss your godson good night." James finally spoke up after the laughter subsided a little. He knew Sirius would not back down from any dare and this would definitely get back to him.

"Since when is Harry my godson?" Sirius acted all innocent. "I've never said anything about having a godson or something."

"Sirius, you _are_ my godfather and legal guardian when my parents were not around." Harry was enjoying every moment teasing his father and godfather at breakfast. It's not exactly an every day event.

"Fine." Sirius pouted and kept his hands crossed in front of his chest. Either his pride or masculinity, and both were equally important to him. "Inform when before you go to bed tonight." This time, all of them were laughing at Sirius' expression. They continued their breakfast in a light-hearted manner. Although no one mentioned anything about traveling to the past after breakfast, they knew what their next step was very clearly.


	133. A Thousand Years Ago

**Chapter 132: A Thousand Years Ago**

"Tee-shirts, jeans, money, toiletries, underwear, socks-" Lily muttered as she tried to compress her belongings into her orange Deuter backpack. "Luckily there's always magic just in case." After casting Waterproofing and Fireproofing charm on the finished pack, she started wearing her ankle socks and black Sketchers cross-training shoes.

"Lily, are you ready?" James called from the room outside. He knocked and then took a peep into the room.

"Planning to peep at me changing or something?" Lily teased as she tightened her shoelaces. She stood up and neatened her loose fitting white tee-shirt and hipster jeans.

"You know me too well." James was in the room now, picking up her backpack on the bed. "You look nice enough. Can we get going?" He was shooting her a mildly impatient look.

"Okay, thanks." Grabbing her new denim jacket from the armchair, Lily followed James out of her room. "You're looking a little off." She commented.

"With this uncertainties, and Sirius annoying me with kissing noises for the last half an hour, it's really hard to remain sane." James told her in a more irritated tone than before.

"Don't take it too hard." Lily hooked her hand to James' right elbow. "Everything will have a happy ending." She smiled and nudged James muscles on his upper arm.

"Alright." James grinned. "This is our life anyway." They turned into the hallway whereby Remus, Stefanie and Arabella were waiting.

"Finally." Arabella commented. "I thought we had agreed on eleven o'clock." The antique grandfather's clock at the corner of the room was showing five past eleven.

"At least we're not the last." Lily settled on the two-seater couch next to James.

"Who's holding onto the Light Compass?" James asked suddenly as though he just remembered its existence.

"I think it's with Harry." Remus said. "Returned it to him when we came back last night." The five of them sat in silence for less than a minute before Harry and Ginny joined them.

"Thought we're late." Harry said in a light-hearted tone. Everyone seemed to be having an inner debate towards the current situation.

"Sirius always tries to be fashionably late." Stefanie told him. "You probably realize that he is rather dramatic."

"The Sirius I know in the – future is not exactly like that. Rather amused by his younger self behavior." Harry laughed, remembering the dramatic re-enactment at breakfast this morning.

"Are you all talking about me?" Sirius announced his arrival; his slightly bulky Krumpler sling bag was hanging behind him.

"No one is talking about you." Stefanie said quickly before he could get more egoistical. "We better get going, kind of behind schedule thanks to you." It was already fifteen past eleven when their agreed departure timing was eleven.

"Here's the Light Compass." Harry took out the magical triangular disk with three rounded edges. "Is everyone ready?" They carried up their bags and held onto it tightly. "So, what will be the date?"

"According to Hogwarts: A History, I think it states that the school was founded somewhere between AD 990 – AD 1000." Lily tried to recall the content of the books. After all, it had been several years ago when she read it.

"To have accumulated such achievements for setting up such a school, they must have been at least around sixty to eighty years old." James told them. Although it did not appear to be, his father had died in his seventies a couple of years ago.

"And back in those days, it takes longer to get such achievements and credibility." Remus suggested. "I supposed they must been around Dumbledore's age when they set up the school."

"Which is like somewhere in their hundred and thirties." Stefanie commented. She knew Dumbledore turned a hundred and fifty somewhere during the time when Harry was attending Hogwarts.

"Would it be a good idea if we return to January AD 900?" James suggested. "If let's say they're too old or something, we can go back further in history. That would be better than missing their era by going too far back."

"We can go back in early spring AD 900." Sirius told them. "It isn't a good idea to explore a foreign land in winter or something."

"Everyone ok with spring AD 900? Hogwarts grounds?" Harry asked the group. Everyone nodded in approval. "Let's move on." He placed the Light Compass on the ground, the same way as he did the last time while thinking hard on the date and venue of arrival.

Suddenly there was a blinding white light emitting from the floor where the Light Compass was. "Let's go in." Harry informed the rest who were standing behind him. "Hold tight." He said in a softer tone to Ginny as he grabbed her hand.

"I can't seem to see the ending point." Lily blinked and tried to see where she was walking.

"It's totally dark here." James commented. He could hear Harry and Ginny talking in front of them and Sirius' jovial voice behind.

"Ain't this cool?" Sirius was saying in his usual excited tone. "We're literally walking through the timeline backwards."

"Sirius, it would be nice if you don't talk so loudly." Stefanie's voice was more distant, probably several steps behind Sirius.

"This walk seems longer than the one we walk last time." Ginny told Harry. "Or is it because it just feels longer."

"It's definitely longer." Harry agreed. "The last time we had to walk back for twenty years, and now we're walking back for a thousand years."

"I don't think we walked more than five steps the last time." Ginny remembered since it was like just weeks ago.

"If twenty years is equivalent to five steps, I don't really want to try counting how many steps we need to walk to reach a thousand years." Sirius spoke in such an astonished tone as if he just realized something.

"Actually I don't think we walked that long either, probably just around five minutes or so." Harry told them. He was leading the way, through the tunnel. Actually the only sure way was just keep walking ahead. No one actually wanted to turn any other direction just in case landing at the wrong era.

"I think I saw a distant dot of light." Ginny narrowed her eyes for a sharper look. Harry pushed up his glasses for a clearer view.

"Oh yes, I saw that too." Lily confirmed excitedly. The dot of white light was growing bigger and nearer as they increased their speed.

"Ouch!" James groaned when something or more like someone ran into his back.

"Bloody hell! Prongs, why are you walking so slowly?" Sirius complained. He had run straight into James' back as he could not see him walking in a much slower pace ahead.

"You're the one who run into me." James told him off in the darkness. "Take it easy."

"Sirius, you might not want to walk so quickly." Harry advised. "The last time when we traveled back to your time, the first thing we saw was actually a tree trunk."

"If you're running, you may just crash straight into the thick big trunk, and that's not going to be a pretty sight." Ginny chipped in.

"Alright, alright. You guys don't have to start lecturing me about running. Filch had been reminding me about it as long as I could remember." Sirius shrugged it off. He was walking more briskly now; the ending seemed much more appealing than staying another minute longer in this never-ending tunnel.

"I think we're quite close to the opening, it's pretty bright." Stefanie commented from the back as both she and Remus were the last two to walk in. In fact they were less than a hundred meters away now. Harry and Ginny who were leading the way increased their pace so as to reach their destination soon.

"Woah!" Harry stepped out first and moved a few steps forward with Ginny, looking at a large empty plot of land. "Does this place looks remotely like Hogwarts?"

"Where are the lake and the forest?" Ginny asked, looking around. They were standing somewhere in the middle, neither at the highest point nor the lowest, in front of them were acres, and probably hectares of empty lands. Nothing looked familiar to them.

"Is this where Hogwarts going to be in the future?" Lily asked, looking ahead at the vacant terrain.

"Possible." James answered with uncertainty. "Now should we look around to see if there's any trace of our founders."

"Can we try to find Hogsmeade or something? The village probably should be here before the school." Sirius suggested. "Perhaps we can find other small villages in the vicinity too."

"We're in the right place indeed." Remus informed them as he picked up the Light Compass, which looked perfectly still on the floor now and handed it back to Harry for safekeeping.

"How can you be sure?" Arabella asked. "I can't seem to recognize any landmarks here."

"I believe we're standing right in the middle of Hogwarts ground now. The thing is that we don't see the whole area when we're standing in the middle because that's where the Great Hall is." Remus explained. "And since the whole place was magically enlarged, it makes it even harder for us to recognize it. But if my guess is correct, the empty area over there should be the quidditch pitch," he pointed at the empty area at his right. It was a lower ground with a rather steep slope, and seemed unconnected to where they were standing. "The Forbidden Forest probably looks denser now, but less taunting at the moment." He pointed to his right. The rest followed Remus' assumptions and looked around.

"Why don't we have a bird's eye view instead?" James opened his backpack and took out a small matchstick and transfigured it to his Nimbus broomstick.

"Can't believe you transfigured your broomstick to a matchstick." Sirius shook his head in disbelief. "That's an insult to quidditch."

"I don't want to say the wrong charm and spoilt it. Just sent for servicing after Hogwarts and it's good as new now. Besides I'm better with Transfig than Charms." James told him as a matter-of-fact.

"Shucks, why didn't you remind me to bring mine?" Lily scolded him in a joking manner as she slapped his upper arm.

"Any quidditch player will not leave without his trusty broom, right?" James asked his friends who were around him. "It's commonsense for me to bring it along. Who else brought theirs along?" Harry, Sirius, Remus and Stefanie took out their broom and enlarged them back to the original sizes.

"Oh Stef, why didn't you remind me?" Lily sighed in resignation. It's too late for her to bring it along now.

"I don't know if it's a must considering I'm not even sure if broomsticks and quidditch are already invented at this time. Remus reminded me to bring along just in case. Sorry about that." Stefanie did look apologetic about not reminding Lily.

"It's okay, so let's fly up for a clearer view." Lily smiled. "And don't forget the Disillusioned Charm."

"What's the incantation for it?" James asked Lily, as always. He usually asked her for the Charms incantations because he could hardly remember any. It had always bewildered her how he had gotten the same grade for Charms as her, which can be so infuriating.

"Never mind." Lily pointed the wand at his head and muttered the incantation. He held up his broom for Lily to get on it first before she cast the charm on herself and the broom at the same time.

"Thanks." James took a seat behind Lily. After all, there was no exact seating arrangement for the passenger on a broomstick. "We're going to take off now." He called out to his other camouflaged friends. Everyone looked just like their background, if not for their voices, it was difficult to tell that there were eight young adults out there.

"The air here feels so much fresher, lesser pollution I supposed." Lily commented. She took a couple deep breaths, smelling the fresh crisp air of spring.

"The air around Hogwarts always smells more or less the same. Can't tell any difference." James laughed. It was good to be flying around freely again. He had barely had time to practice his quidditch skills since he got his auror job which took him nearly all his time, leaving a couple of hours with Lily every week.

"Okay, if you say so." Lily smiled fondly at her camouflaged fiancé while holding tightly on the broom handle in front. James wrapped his left hand around Lily's waist to make sure she was stable while his right hand was used to steer the direction. It was not because Lily was not capable of keeping herself firmly on the broomstick, but just his instinct to protect her. "That's the empty area which Remus say is likely to be the quidditch pitch-" Lily pointed to an empty area at some distance away, not realizing that James probably looked through her hand. "Is that the Forbidden Forest? It looks less frightening."

"It sure looks less appealing for us to explore as well." James laughed slightly. They had always been exploring the Forbidden Forest in their animagi selves and had made some non-human contacts there over the years.

"Oh, the lake looks awfully small, almost like a huge pond." Lily exclaimed, looking at the supposedly big Hogwarts Lake. It probably looked much smaller since they were looking from it on a higher level. "The curved road beside seemed almost insignificant."

"Is that Hogsmeade?" James asked as he turned the direction of his broomstick so that both of them were facing the Hogsmeade Village.

"It could be since that's the nearest civilization we can see from here." Sirius' voice could be heard nearby.

"Okay, where shall we meet?" Remus asked from somewhere below them. It was a rational question because they could not see each other since they were looked like part of the sky.

"How about where Hogsmeade station is supposed to be?" Lily suggested.

"Good idea." Stefanie agreed. "That's after the lake on the upper grounds."

"AAHHH!" It sounded like Arabella was screaming.

"See you all there." Sirius' voice was sounding more and more distant as he flew towards their meeting point.

"Let's go. Hold on tight." James told Lily before increasing his speed towards the supposedly Hogsmeade station location.

"Woah!" Lily screamed in shock at the sudden descending motion. Harry and Ginny laughed at their reactions, along with Remus and Stefanie, were flying downwards in a less adventurous pace.

X

"I NEARLY DIED OF HEART ATTACK!" Arabella was screaming at Sirius and her voice could be heard from way above.

"But you gotta admit that you had enjoyed yourself clinging onto me." Sirius was teasing Arabella as usual, although he had cut down the level of irritation over the years. He had returned back to his un-camouflaged state while Arabella was looking just like her background, totally not realizing it.

"We can hear your voice from all the way up there." Lily laughed. "Sirius must have flown down in top speed without preempting you."

"You've got to avenge me if I die of heart attack in the near future." Arabella complained. She was squatting down and still trying to recover from the shock that Sirius gave her. "Can help me?" Lily cast a charm on where her voice was and Arabella was back to her original state along with the rest who had landed much more slowly. "Thanks."

"No problem." Lily helped Arabella back to her feet and picked her flung-away backpack up from the grass patch.

"Erm, shall we check out the village or civilization?" Remus reminded them of the real purpose why they were here, before Arabella and Sirius even thought of starting an argument in the middle of history. They started walking towards Hogsmeade from the path they usually take on those out-of-Hogwarts weekends.

"Do you need me to piggyback you?" Sirius offered in a teasing manner. "Or perhaps send you there in a second on my trusty broom?"

"No thanks! I should have tagged along on a safer driver's broom instead." Arabella muttered which only Lily heard her and giggled slightly.

"Honestly you're just dying to touch me." Sirius walked pompously past her and ahead of everyone else. "That's normal actually. I won't say I mind-" Suddenly there was a rain cloud just above Sirius' head and started raining on him, drenching him thoroughly. "Bloody hell, it's raining." He turned and saw his friends who were still looking dry. "Bell, you can do magic?"

"I asked Lily to do it for me." Lily grinned while Arabella was smirking at him now. "Don't think you know how to get rid of that one."

"Prongs.." Sirius walked towards James' direction.

"Don't come nearer." James dashed forward to avoid Sirius and his rain cloud. "I certainly enjoy being dry for the moment."

"If I get you drench like me, Lily will stop this." Sirius said in a very smooth and persuasive sounding tone.

"Unfortunately I can't. I don't know the incantation to stop it." Lily shrugged. "Only Bell knows." Apparently Arabella had recovered fully from her shock and started grinning at Sirius.

"This is a really simple charm I learnt in second year on the book of pranks, how could you not know?" Arabella teased. She kept a distant from Sirius while she talked just in case he might do something crazy like hugging her or something.

"Hey, this looks like Hogsmeade." Ginny gushed. Their view of the ancient village looked a little similar to the one they had been seeing for five years when they were in Hogwarts. But there were still some major differences, which were normal since it would have evolved over the years.

"Their dressing looks quite different. Let's put on our cloaks." James suggested as he pulled out his cloak from his backpack side pocket and fastened it around his neck, concealing his bag as well. Their modern-day clothing would look too conspicuous among the community and a dark color cloak would reduce the attention on them.

"We've got some serious exploring to do this afternoon." Remus commented as he looked at the folks who were passing by. The buildings, the language, the culture were definitely different from what they were used to have in their modern days.

"Not forgetting that we need to start looking for the Hogwarts founders." Stefanie wrapped the cloak and enlarged it a little to conceal the denim jeans and track-shoes she was wearing. Thankfully cloaks were always part of the fashion among magical folks.

"Time to explore Hogsmeade once again!" Sirius said in an excited tone now that he is almost dry, magically of course. The rain cloud following him had disappeared within five minutes since it made the grand appearance above his head. "The best place to get all the information is none other than the Three Broomsticks."

"How can you be sure that place has already been in existence as long as Hogwarts?" Arabella asked as she walked beside Sirius. "Use your brains, it's a thousand years ago."

"Look at the shops, they look so – old." Lily was amazed by the contents in the shop. They had just walked past a blacksmith shop that was making swords. "Cool." The banging and clanging sound of metals almost seemed to carry a trace of ancient feeling.

"It seems to me that quidditch isn't into the trend yet." James looked around, trying to source for any quidditch shops around. "How do they travel around in these days?" He muttered to no one in particular.

"Shall we look around if there're any potential inns or somewhere which we can spend tonight?" Remus asked, being his usual self, planning several steps ahead of schedule.

"Hey, look over there! I think I saw some inn word or something like that." Ginny pointed at a few shops away. There was a signage hanging outside that stated 'Cozy Inn'.

"That inn definitely didn't manage to undergo the test of time." Sirius commented to no one in particular. And of course, no one bothered to reply him since they had already walked ahead to check it out.

The 'Cozy Inn' did not looked all cozy from the main entrance. The walls were made of wood, and filled with wooden tables and benches where some folks were eating and talking rather loudly. The air inside was a little dusty, with a mixture of alcohol and wood smell. A few tables were occupied with magical folks eating and chatting loudly away.

"Yes, can I help you?" It was a young lady, probably in her early twenties, who asked that question.

"Erm, yes please." Lily answered politely since she was nearest to the lady. "We need some rooms for tonight."

"How many rooms would you all like?" She asked politely. They looked at one another for a moment.

"How many people can a room hold?" James asked, since she was still looking at them expectantly.

"It's up to you." She smiled. "But I would recommend one room for the ladies and one for the gents, each room can hold four guests without a problem."

"That's sounds pretty good." Arabella nodded. "What do you guys think?"

"Sure." They all agreed. People in the olden days might be more conservative, judging from the way they covered themselves with layers of clothes. Moreover, having a single-gendered room might be a more appropriate move.

"Each person will cost five knuts a night, is it a problem?" The lady asked as she led them through a door out of the eating area into a long corridor.

"Five knuts!" Sirius was totally surprised at the cost.

"Sorry, but is it too expensive?" The lady said quickly. "As our rooms need to be enlarged magically, and we serve breakfast every morning-"

"Oh no, I don't mean that." Sirius said rather sheepishly. "It's kinda cheap I supposed."

"Cheap?" The lady looked surprised at Sirius' comment. "Most of us don't find that five knuts are cheap. Are you all tourists?" She slowed down her pace and walked beside Sirius.

"Yes, from somewhere faraway." James answered before Sirius could say something stupid.

"Oh, I see." The lady could sense that they did not want to disclose too much of themselves and decided not to probe any further while she walked along the corridors. "Well, if you all have any questions about Hogsmeade, do feel free to ask me. I can recommend you some places for sight-seeing."

"That's wonderful of you." Stefanie said gratefully. "In fact, you still haven't introduce yourself."

"Oh, how forgetful of me." The lady chuckled slightly and stopped walking. "My name is Rowena, please to meet you." She bowed politely at them.

"So you're- ouch!" Sirius was about to ask if her name was Rowena Ravenclaw when Stefanie kicked him on his shin.

"Sorry, he's trying to flirt with you." Stefanie told Rowena. "Please don't mind him." Sirius glared at Stefanie was interrupting him when Remus gave him the look which said keep-your-mouth-shut.

"Alright, we're here." Rowena stopped in front of the double doors. She took out her wand and pointed at the double doors and muttered some incantations. "There you go." She pushed open the double doors which gave a slight squeaking sound at the hinges.

The room was very simply decorated, with four beds, two at each side. There was a side table on the right side of every bed and a small single door cupboard on left. In the middle of the room, there was a round table and four stools. It looked very similar to the Hogwarts dormitory except that the room was square and windows were all on one side.

"Here's the washroom." She led all of them across the room and opened another door; the room was divided into two areas separated by wooden dividers. "The right entrance is to the toilet and the left is for the bath. This is an enclosed room and lit purely by magical candles, and had been protected by anti-peeping charms. In fact all rooms are sound-proof and password protected as well." She waved her wand to close the doors. "To change the password, speak clearly – the password is now we are in Hogsmeade, the end. So now the password is 'we are in Hogsmeade'. Get it?" They nodded. The whole password-protected rooms gave them a nostalgic feeling. It was just like Hogwarts. "Just change it to a password that only the four of you know. And do change it as often as you like. When you're outside, whisper it to the door will do. You don't want the entire inn to hear the password to your room." They laughed at Rowena's sense of humor.

"This inn looks really cool." Ginny complimented.

"Thanks, not to boast or anything, but the password protected part is my idea." Rowena blushed slightly. "Okay guys, your room is just next door. It will look exactly the same." She opened the door and led the four guys out of the ladies' room. In front of the door, she did the exact action with her wand. "There you go." She pushed opened the doors of the guys' room.

"Thanks Ro, mind if I call you that?" Sirius said flirtatiously.

"Most people call me Ro or Wen here, that's fine too." She smiled shyly. After all the four guys, though probably younger, were definitely good looking hunks. Any girls would blush to have them flirting to you, especially in those older eras. "So I leave you all here, please enjoy yourselves." She left the room and closed the door behind her. "Don't forget to change the password." She called out from outside.


	134. Back in Those Olden Days

**Chapter 133: Back in Those Olden Days**

"Do you think Rowena is the Rowena Ravenclaw?" Stefanie asked. The girls had already chosen their beds and kept their clothes and toiletries in the cupboard. Since they did not know exactly how long they would be staying in this era for, might as well as just enjoy it.

"It could be." Lily answered from the bed across her. "Unless Rowena is the most common female name in this village."

"It's hard to say; besides we're not even sure of her family name." Arabella commented. "But the possibility is high. Doesn't this whole inn and room decor remind you of Hogwarts?"

"It certainly does." Lily agreed.

"We walked past a blacksmith shop making swords; do you think we can find Godric Gryffindor there?" Ginny asked as she suddenly remembered something. She knew about the existence of Gryffindor's sword since she had actually seen it before.

"There is?" Stefanie asked in surprise. "I don't remember ever seeing it."

"Yes, Harry pulled the sword out from the Sorting Hat when he tried to save me in the Chambers of Secret." Ginny told them.

"Never heard Harry mentioned that." Lily frowned slightly, thinking back of the conversation she had with Harry and James the night before.

"It wasn't exactly a happy memory for him coming to face Tom Riddle-" Ginny started.

"Tom Riddle, the one who opened the Chambers of Secret way before our time." Arabella gasped in realization. "Who is now – Voldemort." Their faces paled slightly at the mentioned of Tom Riddle.

"Ginny, please carry on. We want to know about it." Lily asked. _Harry certainly had a terrible life in Hogwarts, coming to face with Voldemort and Tom Riddle._

"Well, alright. Actually it's my fault when Mr. Malfoy ("Lucius", Stefanie spoke loudly with a tinge of anger.) slid Tom Marvolo Riddle's diary into my cauldron when I was eleven. That diary turned out to be a horcrux which preserved Tom Riddle's sixteen-year-old self."

"What's a horcrux?" Lily asked.

"Oh well, this is very very dark magic." Ginny went on explaining what horcrux was and continued telling the story of the chambers while the other three listened attentively, asking questions now and then.

X

"Let me just go and get some information from Ro!" Sirius argued. "I'm almost positive she is _our_ Rowena! And she might just lead us to _our_ Godric and then da-da we found the Salazar!" He exclaimed and jumped out of his bed.

"So you intend to go up to her and say 'Hey Ro, guess what? I'm from the future, about a thousand years later. Here to find my old school founders. And one of them is you! Surprised?'?" Remus joked. "Magical, yes. But this is really absurd for someone who never heard or done anything like this before."

"Besides that, she will think you're some insane person and we all are in the same gang as you. And she may just get aurors, or whatever law enforcers, here to capture us." James told him. "Then that's not exactly helpful as I don't think Slytherin will be in the prison or the law enforcer."

"Now, both of you have got a point there." Sirius sat down on the center stool and nodded his head in agreement. "So what can we achieve by sitting here in our rooms and enjoying the ancient wood as furniture?"

"We're trying to _settle_ down so we can get started shortly." Remus shook his head and laughed at Sirius' humoring question. "First of us, we better change our clothes to something more _in style_." Remus pointed out. Their tee-shirts and denim jeans with track shoes would make all of them stood out like sore thumb. He transfigured his clothes to duplicate something like what those youngsters in the village wore. "Try this, it's quite comfortable actually." A simple light brown loose-fitting v-neck having frayed edges that looked slightly worn, a pair of slightly over-sized trousers in a darker brownish shade with a pair of boots that looked as though it was made of cloth made Remus looked just like one of the villagers in Hogsmeade.

"You look just like them!" Sirius gushed. "No one would be able to tell that you're not a villager here, judging from your clothes." He stood in front of a mirror, though not as clear as our modern ones, and transfigured some new clothes. "So what do you think?"

"Isn't that a little too loud?" Harry commented in between laughter. Everyone knew Sirius loved attention, but the clothes he transfigured made him look like an alien instead. He was wearing a fiery orange shirt that was rather body hugging but had some artificial holes on it, along with a pair of brown straight cut pants. In fact, his outfit looked so mismatch and terrible was just an understatement.

"We know that you've got a great body to show, but please go for something soft and simple." James laughed. He was wearing something very similar to Remus now since he had not much idea how the clothes there should look like.

"You two definitely have similar taste." Sirius had already re-transfigured his outfit to copy Remus but had a dark shade of gray. "Just like father and son." He laughed at James and Harry. Both of them were wearing identical khaki-colored outfits.

"The guys here sure dressed similarly." James commented dryly. "Wait till I check out their latest fashion. Meanwhile let's go for lunch first. I'm starved!"

X

"This doesn't _look_ right, and it doesn't _feel _right!" Arabella shrieked. She was now dressed in a blue checkered dress that resembled a milkmaid, in modern times, right down to the white apron. "No, no, no." The four girls just burst into loud giggles once again. "I shouldn't have agreed to allow you girls to use me as a model." She muttered.

They had initially wanted to leave the room in their modern day clothes when Stefanie noticed that their dressing would stand out among the villagers. Hence, they decided someone should be their model to try out the clothes that they noticed the young ladies were wearing. In fact, they remembered Rowena's dress the most, but it would be awkward if all of them wore the same thing as her. Being the tallest and having the best figure, Arabella was targeted to be their model of the day.

"Get rid of this _awful_ outfit." Arabella cried.

"I think I saw some girl wearing something like.." Lily strained her memory to remember what she saw earlier before they entered the inn. "..this." She flicked her wand and transfigured Arabella's dress immediately. She was now wearing a plain gray dress with a rectangular neckline and had an elastic band around the waist area. The corseted dress flared all the way until the mid-calves, enhancing both her cleavage and height. "The shoes were.." She waved her wand again and Arabella's track shoes now looked like it was made a cloth with a rubber sole.

"Not that this is good or anything, but it was better than the milkmaid dress you transfigured earlier." Arabella reprimanded in a joking manner. "But the corset is a little on the tight side." She turned to look at herself in the three-sided mirror which Stefanie had transfigured it for her 'modeling session'.

"Sirius will faint if he saw you in this dress." Ginny laughed good-naturedly. "Just tie up your hair into a ponytail and you'll look like one of the village girls."

"Now don't even mention anything about-" A series of urgent sounding knocks interrupted her.

"Must be the guys." Lily waved her wand to open the door.

"Wait! Don't let-" Arabella ran straight into the washroom. "anyone of them see me in this state."

"What happened to Bell?" Sirius asked immediately when he heard Arabella's muffled comment from the toilet.

"Nothing much." Stefanie said quickly. "So what's with your new outfits?"

"Don't you think we look so _hot_ in them?" Sirius boasted. "Three-sided mirror, why didn't we thought of it." He went straight to the front of the mirror and looked at his reflection from all angles. "Not too bad for a start."

"We're trying to change here actually." Lily told them. The three other guys had already settled themselves onto the stools in the middle of the room.

"We don't mind, really." James teased and winked at Lily flirtatiously. No hormonal guy would mind watching girls change anyway.

"We do mind, really." Lily laughed. "And I don't think Bell would want to face anyone of you in her current outfit."

"Now that's something interesting." Sirius perked up when he heard what Lily just said.

"Don't try anything funny." Ginny warned Sirius teasingly. They all knew that Sirius would be dying to see Arabella in her outfit. The funny thing was they are both wearing a grayish outfit, though neither of them knew that.

"Guys, out!" Lily got up and started shooing the guys out of the room. "We'll be out in a few minutes."

"Aww, let me see Bell." Sirius pleaded and then said in a louder voice. "Bell, I know you're _dying_ to show me your new outfit."

"No thanks!" Bell replied back. At least now they knew the washroom door was not soundproofed.

"Done." Lily closed the door after the three guys helped to drag Sirius out of their room. "Let's change and get out there to see the world."

"Are we seriously going to wear something like this?" Arabella asked. "Trust me! You'll die of suffocation before we get out of this inn."

"I supposed so, since I remembered seeing some of the ladies wearing this." Stefanie shrugged. "But their necklines aren't that low and the bodice weren't that tight." She waved her wand and loosened the 'lung-minimizer' for Arabella and increased it to a rounded neckline, covering her obvious cleavage.

"That's better. Thanks!" Arabella took a deep breath. "How did those ladies wear a corset and be so normal out there? I really find it hard to understand."

"Probably because we're not used to it." Lily adjusted the long sleeve of her pale yellow dress that covered nearly her whole upper body. "The girls must be really conservative to be so covered up." She cast a charm to allow ventilation through her dress so it would be more 'airy'.

"We really must get out there to check out their fashion." Arabella joked. "We're so similarly dressed." Their outfits looked identical in the earthly shades of cream and beige colors. "Or at least hopefully similar to the ladies out there."

"Are you girls ready?" James knocked on the door again; they had been loitering outside their room for the last ten minutes waiting for them to get changed.

"Wait a minute, just double checking, our password is Hogwarts rules right?" Lily asked again just in case she might have forgotten.

"Right." Ginny opened the door and showed four very bored looking guys.

"Finally. We're hungry and starting to melt in this weather." Sirius complained as he led the way towards the eating area. It was obviously in the noon as the sun was glaring from the top of the sky.

"Nice dress." Harry told Ginny as they followed Sirius. "Maybe you should keep this dress with you."

"You don't look too bad yourself either." Ginny blushed slightly. Harry's v-neck shirt was loose fitting and exposed a little of his muscular chest.

"Why are you blushing?" Harry asked, totally clueless about what Ginny just saw.

X

"I think I must be paranoid." Remus frowned as he spoke. "I'm starting to feel that our lives are already changed."

"What do you mean?" Arabella asked. Sometimes Remus spoke in such profound manner that they found it hard to understand.

"What I meant is, our lives aren't the same anymore. Once we're done with everything here, our times would have changed. We might not be born to the same parents, nor the same place, or the same time anymore. I'm not sure either."

"Do you mean that we're going to live a very different life from the one we had?" Stefanie asked. The three of them were following the rest to the eating area and Remus was just sharing his thoughts.

"I supposed so. Let's just wait and see." Remus mustered out his most reassuring smile. "Meanwhile, I can smell the food already."

"Bell, come forward. Take a look at these gorgeous babes."

X

"What do you think they serve here?" James asked Lily in a light-hearted tone. "Think they have pies and croissants?"

"Why not?" Lily grinned. "I'm sure food has a very long history." Then she gave a pretended gasp and dramatized further by covering her mouth in horror. "You don't think they serve only veggies here do you?"

"That would be nice." James laughed. "We can just turn vegetarians for this trip." Lily preferred meat over greens, and her expression would be priceless if they could only eat vegetables while they were there.

"I don't think so." Lily told him. "I could smell roasted chicken now." They followed the rest into the eating area. Rowena was around showing Sirius to a table at a corner that could hold up to eight people.

"Please take a seat." Rowena ushered them to their table while they shared two to a bench on a large square table.

"Thanks." Stefanie took a seat beside Arabella, to save her from Sirius' merciless teasing for at least over lunch. Not that she looked funny or strange in her dressing; Sirius just enjoyed teasing her like old times.

"We've chicken, pork, beef, fish, potatoes and vegetables. What would you like?" Rowena asked politely.

"What's your recommendation?" Remus asked, since they were clueless how their food would look like.

"The fried chicken here is our specialty with fried potatoes." Rowena smiled.

"What is that guy over there eating?" Sirius asked, pointing to the guy on the next table.

"That would be fried fish with mashed potatoes and sauce." Rowena told him.

"I'll have that then." Sirius thought he saw the satisfied look on the man's expression.

"Make it two." James added.

"Make it three." Harry followed.

"How about we all have that?" Remus asked his friends. "It would be confusing for the lady if we keep adding to our order." Even Rowena laughed at his humor.

"I'm sooo hungry." Sirius mumbled incoherently as his face was flat down on the table. It was barely five minutes ago when Rowena took their order and went behind the counter.

"Any suggestions for our first stop?" James asked. A waiter came by with eight teacups and served them hot English tea.

"Shall we check out the blacksmith shop down the street?" Harry suggested. "It looks quite cool."

"Same sentiments exactly." Lily said excitedly. "It's not what we get to see every day."

"We should check out where future Honeydukes too." Remus asked. "After all, there's a connection all the way to Hogwarts."

"Perhaps we can find another of our founder there." Stefanie agreed. "Not anybody will be allowed to pave such a tunnel all the way into the school directly.

"Then perhaps we can check out the shack's location too. It's probably someone's house or something of that sort." Harry added.

"Here's your lunch." Rowena said chirpily as she handed eight plates of fish and potatoes out magically from her tray. "And the cutlery." She placed a basket full of forks and knives in the middle of the table. "Please enjoy your meal."

"Thank you." After sampling the first bite on the fish, they tucked into their lunch with full forced. Although the fish and mash potatoes did not taste like those they normally eat, it was nice to put it mildly, a unique taste of mixture of herbs.

"Yummy." Sirius was finishing his serving rather quickly. "Who wants more food?"

"Me." James swallowed his food before talking. They were hungrier than they thought and ate up their food real quick. "Shall we order some roast chicken with fried potatoes or something?"

X

"Swords for you?" A deep husky voice asked them. The eight of them had just entered the blacksmith shop and was astonished by the interior of it. It was a simple-building two-storey building from the outside, but the interior was a totally different thing. It was huge!

"Oh, no. Thanks for asking but we just come in to take a look." James told the man in shadows.

"You all come in here just to take a look?" The man emerged from the shadows and stared at them strangely. "I don't remember seeing you all around here." With the help of candles, they could see that he was the same man they saw earlier in the inn.

"Sorry, are we disturbing or something?" Remus asked politely. "We're tourists and found that your shop is rather enticing."

"No, it's alright. I remembered you all from Cozy Inn." The guy gave a warm smile. "Ro told me about you. Welcome to Hogsmeade."

"Thank you." The rest returned a friendly smile. "So is this your shop?" Sirius asked. "It looks really cool!"

"Thanks. This is actually my dad's shop. Just helping out here." He gestured them to a corner table with some benches for a seat. The clanging sound of metals continued on magically although there was no one at work inside now. "My name is Dric. What about yours?" They took turns to introduce themselves and felt rather comfortable in the dimly lit shop.

"Despite all the hot coals and everything, we don't feel any bit of heat around." Arabella told him. "Must be some good cooling charms."

"Oh yes. It's an absolute must." Dric laughed. "Feel free to take a look around and see if any of the swords and daggers captures your attention." He pointed to the walls where row of swords and daggers were lined neatly.

"Thanks for your hospitality." Dric went back behind to continue his work while leaving them to look around at the weapons collection.

"Godric!" A female voice called from some distant away.

"Yes, Mother. Just call Dric." And Dric disappeared into the door at the far end of the room. They exchanged a similar look and nod before walking out of the shop.

"That can't be a coincidence, right?" Lily asked the moment they were a few steps away from the blacksmith shop.

"We're on the right track, I supposed." James spoke with a newfound optimism. "Shall we go to Honeydukes?" It was a clear afternoon at Hogsmeade and relatively packed with villagers all around the place. "It's a little hard to hold a conversation here."

"It would be that way." Sirius raised his hand above them and pointed to his left. They continued walking against the flow of traffic towards the supposedly Honeydukes shop.

"Well?" James was the first to speak while the few of them stood in front of the supposedly future Honeydukes. "It seems like no one is staying here."

"That's true." Sirius shrugged. "Let's move on to the shack." He led the way further down the street.

"There is this crazy idea popping in my head right now." Lily told James. "I was thinking that we should buy over that empty house. For all you know, we could be the one building that tunnel to Hogwarts." James shook his head and laughed at Lily's wild imagination.

"It's definitely not build by us. Since this is the first time we traveled through time back here. Technically it's not possible. But I like your way of thinking." James placed his hand across Lily's shoulders as they moved on, following Sirius' lead.

"So, this is a school." Stefanie commented as she read the wooden signboard. "School of Zar." The building in front looked similar to the rest of the houses in Hogsmeade except that it was slightly bigger.

"This school definitely doesn't emit a good aura." Arabella looked around the building; it seemed to carry a trace of eccentricity that they could not pinpoint on.

"Let's go in and take a look." James pushed open the creaking gates and walked in with Lily close beside him. The door into the school was just ahead.

Knock. Knock. They waited for awhile and tried to hear if there would be any movements.

"Yes?" A masculine voice called out from their back which gave them a fright.

"Sorry to disturb. But we saw that this is a school and-" Harry was speaking politely as be was nearest to the strange young man.

"You all are too old for this school. Go away." He interrupted curtly. They quickly apologized and made their way out of the wooden gates before it slammed magically behind them.

"That was rude, considering this is a school." Ginny commented loudly after they were back to the crowded area of Hogsmeade.

"What do you say if we get back to the inn?" Lily suggested. _I got a hunch that he's Salazar Slytherin and I hope I'm right. _ "To discuss or something?"

"Great idea." Stefanie seconded. "It's getting cloudy." With that, they walked briskly back to the inn, with lots of questions in mind.


	135. Uh Oh

**Chapter 134: Uh-Oh**

"So let's say that _he_ is indeed Salazar, so how are we going to make him a nicer person?" Harry asked logically. "You've seen how _he_ treats us just now." The eight of them were now gathered in the girls' room for discussion. Remus had cast additional soundproofing and privacy charm just in case of unnecessary eavesdroppers.

"Now, you guys are the smartest students in Hogwarts, any ideas?" Sirius asked Lily and James in particular.

"I'm trying to think." Lily muttered. James did not bother to even answer Sirius' redundant question.

"But first of all, it's just our hunch that he is Salazar. We've to make sure about that first." Arabella reminded. "I was wondering if we should get some information from Rowena."

"That's a great idea." Sirius agreed enthusiastically. "I always think we can just approach her and ask directly. You-"

"She will think we're all mad just like you." Arabella shook her head in disbelief.

"We told him the same thing earlier." Harry chuckled. Sirius decided to sit with his arms crossed and remained silent for the next few moments.

"Is there a potion that we can change personality?" Lily asked. "I think there was something about it in Advanced Potion Making."

"I don't remember studying that." James frowned slightly.

"I think there is such a potion in that book. But it's not an easy potion." Stefanie commented. "It's along the difficulty of the Felix Felicis."

"Felix Felicis!" Sirius jumped from his seat. "That's it. We can just use that." The rest of them just stared at him blankly. "We can take a little of that liquid luck and everything will just go our way. That means we can just make Salazar nicer? He's alright as long as he is not against muggleborns and half bloods."

"Did you remember it takes about six month to brew Felix Felicis?" Stefanie reminded him. "That's why we never had that for practical."

"Oh, right." Sirius sounded positively dejected. "Next idea please."

"Actually I think it's a good idea for us to get some information for the villagers first. At least I believe everyone knows everybody here." Arabella told them. "We can make it seems like some innocent questions."

"And those facts will definitely be better than us assuming who's who." Lily agreed wholeheartedly, nodding approvingly.

"Right, so we're going to split up and get some information quick." Sirius was ready to barge out of the room.

"Shouldn't we decide on whom we're going to ask or something? It will be strange if all of us take turns to ask Ro the same question." Lily pointed out. "And I think that it's better for us girls to approach Ro than you."

"Lily, you can't-" Sirius looked flabbergasted at Lily's comment.

"Padfoot, she's probably your maternal great-great-great-great-great grandmother." Remus reminded. "You never know."

"Eeewww."

"Let's not waste time." James took up the leader role once again. "Lily and Ginny, both of you will speak to Rowena and try to find Helga if possible." Lily and Ginny nodded. "Stef and Bell, both of you will hit the shops which sell clothes and cloth and seamstress and – you get my point?"

"Yes, I know you mean the female villagers in general." Stefanie laughed.

"Padfoot, Moony, I think you its best if both of you find out more about the school and Salazar if possible." Sirius looked a little disappointed that he was not going to get to know more girls out there but to find out more about the 'root of all evil'.

"Harry and I will go back to look for Godric again. Then we try to get some information. We'll probably check out the marketplace since we're around that area." Harry nodded in agreement. "Red sparks in emergency. How's the arrangement with everyone?"

"It's great." Lily beamed at James with pride.

"So we'll gather back in this room at six, no matter what happens." James told them in a more serious tone. "Padfoot, don't try anything foolish. Our names are _not_ supposed to appear in history."

"Don't worry, I won't." Sirius shrugged. "I know what to do."

"That's the worrying part." Arabella muttered, but it was loud enough for most of them to hear.

X

"So Ro, can we work here too? It seems really fun." Lily and Ginny were chatting with Rowena at the inn counter since there were not much customers in the afternoon.

"Don't tell me you all have no money to pay for the rooms?" Rowena joked. James had paid a week rental for both rooms in advanced earlier, just to assure her that they were not intending to stay for free or any other motives.

"Of course not." Ginny smiled and continued talking smoothly. "I've never been a waitress before and you just seems so cool."

"Sometimes it's really so busy that even magic doesn't help." Rowena shook her head. "Anyway did you all conjure the dresses yourselves?" Both girls nodded.

"Is it that horrible?" Lily looked down at her outfit, adjusting it consciously.

"Don't worry; it looks great, just that it doesn't seem like something from our village. Let me help you." Rowena waved her wand and did some minor adjustments to their dresses. "I'm not a professional seamstress, ought to get her to make you all some dresses."

"Talking about that, do you have any recommendations for us about what we can do here to feel the culture?" Lily asked, pretending to be looking at the hems of her sleeves that Rowena had altered it magically.

"Hmm, you all should check out the restaurant at the other side of the village." Rowena told them in a lower voice. "They serve the nicest food in this village."

"Sounds delicious." Ginny replied in an equally low voice and the three girls giggled.

"It's called Mrs. Puff." Rowena told them. "Mrs. Hufflepuff is a great chef and her daughter, Helga is my best friend. But my dad isn't too fond of that restaurant because their food is nicer, you know what I mean." Both of them caught each other eye and nodded.

"Parent's generation. We'll never understand." Ginny laughed.

"By the way, we went to the blacksmith shop after lunch and met this guy Dric. He said he knows you – so are you two, well, dating?" Lily and Ginny giggled at the question.

"Don't talk nonsense." Rowena blushed. "He's my childhood friend. Our fathers were friends and we grew up together."

"That makes you two childhood sweethearts." Ginny whispered and then they burst into hysteric giggles. Several people turned and stared at them quizzically.

"Don't talk nonsense." Rowena busied herself with rearranging her desk.

"You're blushing, don't try to deny." Lily whispered. "Both of you will look cute together."

"That's not possible." Rowena sighed. "He treats me as a sister. Besides he has such big dreams that I don't think he will even have time for any woman in his life."

"Big dreams?" Ginny queried.

"Yeah, like build a blacksmith empire or setting up a school." Lily tried guessing.

"Something along that lines. I'm not too sure what he wants actually. He always says we women don't understand things. Sometimes he's just all egoistic and chauvinistic ideals." Rowena told them in a slightly annoyed tone. "Not forgetting to mention he's practically one of the most eligible man in this village."

"We noticed his rugged charm." They started giggling again. The way the three of them were chatting, you might think they were old friends.

"Not just that, he was the best wizard in our school, and probably in the history of this village." Rowena told them.

"What school?" Lily frowned. Ginny was thinking along the same frequency too.

"School of Zar." Rowena waved her wand and stacked the cups onto the shelves. "Not exactly a school. But every child used to attend it to refine our magical skills. As you all know, everyone in this village is magical."

"Oh, that school." Ginny wrinkled her nose. "We saw some guy there just now and were saying hi when he shooed us away so rudely."

"I supposed who you saw was Salazar. He's quite a nice guy actually despite his mean demeanor."

X

"Get out of here and don't come back again." The mean young man slammed the door at Sirius and Remus.

"Jeez, I haven't even started talking." Sirius rolled his eyes. "This guy has some serious attitude and etiquette problems."

"Don't be so rude-" Remus stared at him, trying to hint to him that they were here to source for information and not trying to be chummy with whoever that rude guy was.

"Who is the rude one here, bloody hell?" Sirius swore loudly under his breath.

"Sorry, we don't mean-" Remus started but was rudely cut of again.

"If you two don't leave now, I'm going to curse you out of here."

"Alright, sorry about that." Remus pulled Sirius along as they walked out of the gate, which slammed shut magically after that. "So now, we better ask the shops nearby." Remus pointed at the rows of shop houses at some distance away.

X

"I don't think I ever seen so many swords in my life." James was looking at the large display on swords and daggers at the blacksmith shop.

"Anyone caught your fancy?" Dric asked them from the back. He was taking a break from all the heavy metal work inside.

"All of them look so good; we don't know which one to choose." Harry moved on to the next rack.

"I don't think you two are here just to look at my collection, am I right?" Dric asked the question and caught them by surprise. "I'm a Legilimens."

"Right. So I supposed you've lots of questions to ask us." James turned around to face Dric.

"Yes, and I know both of you're here to ask me questions too." Dric smiled. "I'll tell you what I know."

"Can you tell me more about Salazar Slytherin?" James asked directly and straight to the point.

"Alright." They sat down, at the same table as earlier, all ready to hear about Slytherin.

"He's a good buddy of mine actually." James and Harry exchanged a dark look. "We grew up together, just like brothers. Ten years ago, his father passed away mysteriously, no one knows what the reason was. His mother was devastated. Then this man came along and somehow she fell in love with him and they got married shortly after a year. She died the following year, and this man, Laz's stepfather, inherited everything." Dric took a sip from his goblet before continuing. "Laz's decreased father, Zarius was one of the best wizards in this village. He invited every child to learn magic from him for a year once they turned eleven. The village prospered, and so did he, as you can see, the school had the biggest area in this village." Then he sighed. "This evil wizard took everything away from Laz, and even tried to brainwash him to believe in his evil ideals of usurping the throne of our country. That was what Laz told us when he escaped from his house several years ago. Come to think about it, I haven't really seen him in years."

"So it's all his evil stepfather's doing." Harry finally understood about some of his founder's history that was not recorded in _Hogwarts: A History_.

"That's not the Slytherin I know." James frowned. "His descendant is on a killing spree getting rid of muggleborns."

"I knew him for sixteen years, and evil is not the word I would describe him. Now he's definitely smart and cunning too, but I don't think he's the type who will start killing people randomly." Dric said in such tone that you would just know that he was not lying. "Then again, sometimes it's really hard to say."

"We met him earlier when we went to the School, and he was quite rude, I might say." James told him, Harry nodded in agreement.

"Well, Laz has an attitude problem since young. He doesn't have many friends, but prefer to keep to himself most of the time." Dric shrugged. "Then again, I don't like the way the future turns out."

"How much of our information do you know?" Harry asked out of curiosity.

"Just enough." Dric smiled knowingly. "Alright, you two have asked enough for today. Just for your information, your friend Arabella looks a lot like the princess." His face was slightly flushed at the mention of Arabella's name.

X

"What do you think of this dress?" Arabella pulled out a lavender colored dress from the hanger.

"Hmm.." Stefanie nodded approvingly. "It definitely looks nicer than ours."

"We really need to get some new clothes. For Lily and Ginny too." Arabella was getting a little excited.

"Would you like to give them a try?" The shopkeeper asked them politely. When she saw Arabella, she gave a gasp of surprise. "Would you like any assistance? The changing room is over here. This way place." Her voice suddenly sounded much sweeter than earlier.

"Oh, erm, thanks." Arabella was quite surprised at her sudden courteous bows. She went into the changing room while Stefanie waited patiently outside, browsing through some other dresses. "How does this look?" Arabella asked Stefanie for her opinion while eyeing her reflection.

"Really simple, but nice on you." Stefanie told her while she straightened her sleeves and adjusted the flare of her skirt.

"Miss, how much is this?" Arabella asked the lady, who was still standing patiently behind her.

"That would be one sickle, miss." She looked down as she spoke

"That's really cheap." Arabella told Stefanie in a whisper. "Found any nice clothes so far?" She spoke in the usual manner again.

"I think I'll give this dress a try." Stefanie pulled out an ivory colored dress with a similar cutting as Arabella's.

"Okay." Arabella continued looking at her dress while Stefanie was changing inside. "I'll take this dress." She told the shopkeeper who was beaming at her.

"Would you like any adjustments to be made?" The shopkeeper asked.

"I think it looks alright. What do you think?" Arabella eyed her reflection once again. The reflection was not exactly very clear.

"Let me help you if you like." The shopkeeper started tapping her wands at the different areas of her dress, loosening some parts and tightening the others. "Miss, is it more comfortable now?" Arabella started moving around a little, lifting her hands up a little and bending forward and backwards.

"It's better now. Thank you. Erm, what's your name?" Arabella asked, realizing she had nearly forgotten her real purpose for coming into this shop.

"Heather Tread, at your service." Heather bowed politely.

"Thanks Heather, it's really nice of you." Stefanie came out of her changing room before she could continue the conversation. "Stef, you look great!"

"I like it too. Maybe we should get Lily and Ginny to come here and try the dresses for themselves." Stefanie observed her dress at the various angles.

"Miss, do you need any adjustments?" Heather asked courteously.

"Yes please, that would be nice." Stefanie allowed Heather to tap the wand at the various parts of her dress.

"Is it better now?" Heather asked after she finished inspecting the whole dress, front and back.

"It's lovely, thank you so much." Stefanie told her appreciatively. "How much would these two dresses cost in total?"

"That would be two sickles, please." Heather replied.

"Sure." Stefanie took out her pouch and handed her two shinning sickles.

"Would you like me to pack your dresses for you?" Heather was providing them the perfect customer service.

"That would be so sweet of you. Thank you." Stefanie gushed. She was the nicest salesgirl, or shopkeeper they ever seen. "So Heather, how long have you been working in this shop?"

"As far as I can remember. My mum is making the dresses upstairs while I tend the shop down here." Heather folded their old transfigured dresses and packed it nicely in a paper bag.

"Hogsmeade is an awesome village, isn't it?" Arabella spoke in such high spirits.

"Yes, I love it here." Heather beamed. "Here are your clothes, miss." She handed Stefanie a neatly packed package. "Please visit us again."

"Definitely." They waved goodbye to Heather before disappearing out of the shop.

"She looks really young." Arabella commented once they walked out of the shop.

"Yeah, like thirteen or fourteen." Stefanie gave a soft sigh. "Ought to be in school and not tending a shop."

"That's true." Arabella returned with another sigh. "No information from there, let's try the shop in front."

X

"Let's go to my room." Rowena whispered to Lily and Ginny. They were confused and the sudden secretiveness of Rowena but nodded nevertheless. "Jace, I'll be out for awhile." She called out to another young waiter nearby who nodded in understanding. "Come on." Rowena led the way to her bedroom. "Please."

"What's so secretive suddenly?" Lily asked in surprised.

"I know who you all are. But I promise I won't tell anyone." Rowena ushered them to take a seat.

"Who?" Ginny and Lily exchanged a bewildered look.

"I recognize Arabella, she's Princess Elizabeth." Rowena told them. "All of you are from the palace, traveling incognito."

"What!" Lily and Ginny did not know they should be relieved or shocked at this news. "What are you talking about?" Lily spluttered in surprised but Rowena interpreted it otherwise.

"Everyone knew that Princess Elizabeth has the most unique eye color, purplish blue or bluish purple, whichever way you put it." Rowena said knowingly. "All of you exhibit a different aura; I've just figured all these out too." Lily and Ginny were pretty stunned to hear this.

"Alright, Ro, tell us what you know about us so far." Lily gave a sigh as if letting her know that she found their biggest secret.

"No one ever had seen Princess Elizabeth before. But everyone had heard of her beauty and princes all over the world came to seek her hand in marriage." Rowena started. "I promise I won't tell anyone, but the villagers are bound to figure it out sooner or later."

"Oh no." Lily gasped. _Bell_ _and Stef are out in the village right now._ It seemed like the same things were going through both their minds.

"Both of you're looking awfully pale, are you okay?" Rowena noticed their faces paled tremendously as if realizing something of great significance.

"Ro, thanks for letting us know that you.. erm.. found out about us. Just remembered that we do something urgently." Lily said hastily.

"I understand." Rowena smiled kindly. "Your secret is safe with me."

"Thanks." With a quick dash, they left her room and sent out red sparks upwards.

X

"Shall we-" Arabella turned around and was about to ask Stefanie if they should enter the shop in front.

"Look." Stefanie pointed at the red sparks in the air. It seemed like no one else had noticed it except the both of them. "That's from the – inn."

"Let's go." The two girls tried to walk briskly back to the inn despite the large crowd in the streets on a late afternoon.

X

"Red sparks." Harry told James in a low voice.

"The inn!" James was suddenly very worried when he realized where the red sparks were coming from. _Lily! _"Let's go." He weaved through the crowd hurriedly; knocking several people in the process and not bothering to apologize. Harry, on the hand, apologized profusely to everyone his father had hit against.


	136. Princess Elizabeth

**Chapter 135: Princess Elizabeth**

"That figures why the girl was so politely suddenly." Arabella muttered. They had gathered back to the inn within five minutes after Lily had sent out the red sparks, with Sirius and Remus being the last two to return. She had just updated all of them about what Rowena had just told her and Ginny. "The last thing we want is to have some unnecessary attention." She leaned against the pillar of the bed with a loud sigh.

"Godric told us that Salazar's stepfather had intentions of usurping the throne.." James frowned as he updated them with Slytherin's information that they heard from Godric earlier. "And we would all be in serious danger if that information is true."

"And Godric is a trained legilimens." Harry added monotonously and ended with a sigh.

"Does that mean that.." Stefanie asked.

"Yes, he knew all about us." James interrupted, frowning slightly. "He warned us about Bell's resemblance, but we did not realize it until - now."

"So now are we going to _pretend_ that Arabella _is_ Princess Elizabeth or what?" Sirius asked in a rather harsh tone, likely to be out of jealousy. He was pacing around the room rather anxiously.

"Jeez, what else can we do now?" Harry mumbled to himself. All of them were deep in their own thoughts.

"If Rowena believes that Bell is the princess, so did the salesgirl at the dress shop, and even Godric himself saw the resemblance, it's a matter of time before rumors spread." James commented. "Let's just say that if we play along, what could happen?" He looked around his friends for approval.

"Bell will be captured for pretending to be the Princess." Lily stated the most obvious consequence.

"Simple, we just don't admit that we're from the palace or that Bell is the Princess." Sirius said sarcastically.

"What are we supposed to admit? We're _not_ from the palace to start with." Arabella muttered loudly. "I just don't feel too good about this whole princess thing."

"People will ask where we're from." Ginny reminded. "Rowena did. And when we told her we can't tell, she drew that conclusion."

"Rumors will definitely spread fast in this small village." Remus analyzed. "And if what Godric say is true about Salazar's stepfather has intention in usurping the throne, he may just kidnap Bell and threaten the king. But she is not the princess and the king would not do anything about a commoner, she will be in great danger."

"We can't allow any of these things to happen either. It will be recorded and our names _can't_ appear in history." Stefanie reminded.

"What do you think the princess is like?" Sirius asked suddenly.

"SIRIUS!" The rest groaned. That was such an insensitive question.

"No, I don't mean that." Sirius defended himself immediately. "I know what you're thinking about but I don't mean that. I mean her personality. Who knows she might be able to help us with this whole Slytherin thing?"

"So how can she help us?" Arabella commented dryly. "What are the possibilities?"

"I don't know." Sirius thought for a moment. "It's just a suggestion." The rest just rolled their eyes at Sirius' thoughtless comment.

"I'll go out and get some food for us." James broke the tensed silence a few minutes later by standing up. Even Sirius was frowning slightly at the disturbance.

"I'll come with you." Lily added softly before both of them left the room silently.

"Meddling with history is a big problem." James sighed. "Is there anything we can do about this whole thing?"

"There is something we can do. But we just haven't thought of it." Lily intertwined her fingers with James as they walked out silently. "Hi Ro, can we get dinner for eight?" She asked in a lighter tone.

"What would you all like?" Rowena asked softly, giving her a nodding smile.

"Anything is fine." James said wearily.

"Okay." Rowena nodded and left the counter passing the orders to the chefs inside the kitchens.

"Is the girl over there staring at us or am I being oversensitive?" Lily hissed. There was a young lady with dark colored hair sitting not far away from the counter staring at them with a frown.

"You're just being oversensitive." James turned to see who Lily was referring to when the lady turned her head away quickly. "It's probably your dress or something." Lily looked at her conjured dress and felt slightly uncomfortable at her stare.

"How about we deliver it to your rooms later?" Rowena came out again smiling at them.

"It's okay, we'll just wait here." James shrugged and took a seat at the table nearby.

"Sure." Rowena smiled at them politely. "Please take a seat first." She poured two cups of tea for them before approaching some other customers who just walked into the shop.

"Hello." The girl whom Lily caught staring at them walked over.

"Hi. Can we help you?" James asked politely. The villagers here were friendly, but not to the extent of approaching strangers.

"Sorry, I don't mean to intrude. Both of you don't seems to be from Hogsmeade. Tourists?" The lady said as she poured a cup of tea for herself.

"Well.. er - hi." Lily greeted her with a polite smile with James was frowning slightly. "I'm Lily and this is James, what's your name?"

"Call me Liz." The lady said. "I've heard that you got a friend who looked like the Princess." She said in a low voice.

"Erm.." Lily was not sure how she was supposed to answer when James interrupted.

"I'm sorry but I don't think it's any of your business." James said in a business-like tone as if he did not want to divulge too much.

"Can I meet her?" The lady asked as though she would not take a 'no' for an answer.

"I don't think so-" The last thing they want was to let more people know about their identities.

"I don't think our friends would like to meet you." James, by now was feeling tired and pissed, answered rather snappily.

"I'm sure she would like to meet me." Liz leaned forward and told them in a low voice.

"And why would that so?" James answered curtly. "Let's go." He stood up taking Lily's hand, who was now looking very hard at the young girl.

"Who are you?" Lily asked directly. _I've got this hunch and I hope I'm right._

"I want to meet your friend." Liz insisted and followed James and Lily.

"James, you're holding too tight." Lily wriggled to remove her wrist from James' forceful grab. Liz was now following behind them directly.

"This is your room isn't it?" Liz stopped and pointed to the room they had just walked passed without a second look. James and Lily exchanged a look when she knocked onto the door.

X

"Dinner is here!" Sirius jumped up at the sound of the knock, thinking that it would be James and Lily back with their dinner. "Hi, what's for dinner?" He asked the plain-looking girl when she walked into the room without carrying anything that looked like dinners. James and Lily followed into the room behind her. "Where's our food? Who is she?" Sirius was looking very confused. James closed the door after entering, making sure no one was lingering outside their room.

"Oh my gosh." Liz walked straight over to Arabella and scrutinized her.

"Sorry, I don't know you." Arabella got up straight and headed straight to the washroom.

"You look like me." Liz stood up with Arabella and suddenly her long hair became brownish blonde in color.

"What?" Arabella turned and stared at her when she gasped.

"What?" Ginny and Stefanie ran forward when Arabella gasped. Liz' back was still facing the rest of them.

"Oh Merlin." Stefanie gave a surprised look. "You-" Liz then turned around and faced the rest of the group who looked equally shocked.

"Princess Elizabeth?" Lily asked while the rest were still surprised at the sudden change of her appearance. "You're a metamorphamagus."

"That's right." Elizabeth nodded. "I've heard about you from my friends and that's why I sneaked out of the palace to come here and see you." Although she was wearing a very plain village dress, there was an aura about her that was different from any other ladies. "Who are you all? Where are you from?"

"It's not important where we're from. How did you manage to sneak out from the palace?" Sirius asked, changing the topic breezily.

"I can change my appearance at will." Elizabeth said with pride. "This is how I've been escaping from the palace now and then."

"Someone is bound to notice that the princess went missing." Sirius ushered Elizabeth to his seat.

"I've learn enough magic to conjure another me to stay in the room in case of any emergency." Elizabeth sighed as she sat down. "Sometimes I prefer that I'm a commoner here than a princess locked up in the palace. It's awfully boring and full of rules."

"Tons of girls would do anything to take your place in the palace." Lily chuckled. All girls dreamed to be a princess when they were younger. She, too, was no exception.

"I know. That's why I made some wonderful friends around here. Now can you all be honest and tell me who you are? And where are you all from?" Elizabeth asked, having eye contact with everyone in the room, and lingered slightly long with Arabella.

"How do we know if we can trust you?" Harry asked skeptically.

"Well, first of all, I told you all about my identity, which I must add that none of my friends in Hogsmeade know about this. Secondly, you all know I'm a metamorphamagus, which my friends don't know." It was obvious that this young princess was telling them the truth.

"How can you trust us?" James asked. "You don't even know who we are."

"Well, I learnt Astrology and Divination." Elizabeth sounded slightly impatient. "I knew that I was going to meet my future incarnation soon." She shot a look at Arabella. "And when I heard from my friends that there was a girl in village who is rumored to be the princess, I knew that it was the truth." She helped herself with a fresh cup of tea. "I'm sure you all know about that rumor by now."

"Princess, so how may I assist you?" Sirius bowed and took Elizabeth's right hand and plant a gentle kiss on it. Arabella and Stefanie expressed positively revolting look while James and Harry chortled a laugh at the overzealous Sirius.

"Eewww." Elizabeth took her hand back and wiped it against her skirt. "That's disgusting." She turned her back towards Sirius. "I know you all are here for a reason, and I may be able to help." The seven of them looked at one another, while Sirius did not take his eyes off Princess Elizabeth. "You are all here to prevent the catastrophe in two thousand years time." Elizabeth spoke in a knowledgeable air. "The heir of Salazar is on a killing spree and you all are the only one who can stop him." She glanced around and saw some surprised reaction. "I'm sure you all have heard about the legend of the Supreme Seven. And six of you are part of them."

"Wow, how do you know about that too?" Sirius was amazed by Elizabeth's knowledge and wisdom.

"Zeus Trelawney was the royal seer and he had been my teacher for Divination." Elizabeth answered without looking at Sirius. "I didn't believe him when I was younger, but when the signs are showing, I knew that he was telling the truth."

"What truth?" Lily asked curiously, Stefanie and Ginny nodded in agreement.

"The first sign when Salazar's stepfather wants to usurp the throne." Elizabeth said grimly. "If not for Zeus, this whole land would have been gone by now." She took a deep breathe before continuing. "That's not the important point. The whole point is you all must stop Salazar from having an heir that kills people randomly."

"How can we do that?" Remus asked. "He slammed the door on us even before we managed to say anything."

"I don't know." Elizabeth said in a defeated tone. "All I know that Zeus wanted me to help to stop Salazar's evil doing."

"Can't we ask Zeus what to do? After all, he was the one who made the prediction." Harry asked.

"We can't." Elizabeth closed her eyes, remembering the thoughts of his teacher. "He died mysteriously two years ago."

"Sorry to hearthat." Arabella replied sympathetically.

"Then how did you know about all these?" Ginny asked. Elizabeth sat down once again. "He told me that when I was younger, but I didn't understand anything. He knew he was going to die, so he left me a vial of potion by my bed and told me to drink it after my eighteenth birthday before I sleep. That night he appeared in my dreams and told me the entire story of the future. I've seen all of you in my dreams and, of course, the disastrous future."

"Oh my gosh." Lily and Arabella gasped. Elizabeth gave a small smile.

"Well, I told the story of the Supreme Seven to all the kids in the village after Zeus passed away. That wasn't an instruction he left, but it was something I want to do so people can remember him forever." Elizabeth smiled fondly at the thought of his late Divination teacher. "Okay, so now back to the main point. How are we going to convert Salazar?"

"Why can't you get rid of his stepfather? Like execute him or throw him into jail?" Sirius asked.

"If it was that easy, you all wouldn't have to be here right now." Elizabeth sighed. "There is no evidence against him. Besides, the last time when he was capture for attempted assassination, he broke out of jail, killing all the guards mercilessly along the way. He was too evil and cunning; I am worried for my father too." Tears were forming in her eyes.

"Since Zeus had so much confidence in us for doing this, he must have been sure that we could change history." James stood up and gave something like a pep talk he used to give before a quidditch match.

"Not to sound discouraging or what, but it must have not worked the first time round since – that – had happened." Arabella pointed out.

"It has to happen because otherwise you all will never come into existence." Elizabeth said simply. "We need all the help we can get."

"Who are the 'we'?" Lily asked.

"Godric, Rowena, Helga and Salazar." Elizabeth said. "But they don't know about their future yet. They don't even know that they will come together and start Hogwarts in about twenty year's time."

"Wow, you even know that." Sirius was thoroughly impressed. "We graduated from Hogwarts last year."

"How you managed to graduate is beyond me?" Elizabeth said in a teasing manner. "Given your intellect, I thought you might have been repeating your second year for the last five years." The rest started laughing while Sirius turned a few shades redder than before.

"You've yet to discover my charming intellect which will impress you greater than anything you know." Sirius seemed to have recovered his wit instantly.

"Right." Elizabeth muttered incoherently, looking more unimpressed by Sirius' wild flirtatious moves. "I need to go now. Will come back to see you again in no more than three days. Hopefully by then we can figure something out." She turned towards the door while changing her appearance along the way, back to an average looking commoner.

"Let me walk you back." Sirius offered and followed Elizabeth like a doggy out of the room.

"That's something about the history we never learn." James commented. "What has Professor Binns been teaching us all these time?"

"I don't think we learnt anything beyond the years of our founders." Remus tried to remember. "And even if there is, there isn't much coverage about it since it was so long ago."

"I think we need to find the solution soon." James sat down onto the stool which Elizabeth sat on earlier. Lily joined him and sat down beside him.

"The magic and muggle world have advanced in the last two thousand years, how about we use something from the future to deal with him?" Harry spoke up after several minute of silence. "He wouldn't have expected that since he probably never even knew about their existence."

"That's a brilliant idea, Harry!" James spoke with pride. "I see that you've got my intelligence." Lily started blushing and looked away from James and Harry.

"This is such a _logical_ idea; I bet it must be Lily's genes." Arabella grinned cheekily at the blushing Lily.

"Well, it doesn't matter anyway." James draped his arm loving over Lily's shoulders. "So let's think of something from the future that we can use to deal with the ambitious devil."

X

"Honestly, you can't believe that we are going to electrocute him with electricity which hasn't even been invented?" Stefanie sighed at Sirius' tenth muggle-inclined suggestions. They had continued on their discussion the following day instead since everyone was still in shocked about the Princess.

"Why not?" Sirius argued. "We can generate the electrity magically, and attack him with wires. Or we can transfigure a power station which shoots electrity into his house and zapped him."

"Padfoot, your ideas are _absolutely_ fantastic, but they are _not_ feasible." James slapped his forehead. "Try thinking something along the lines of practical and intelligent."

"But I still think that electrity is the best idea out of the gun.. pen.." Sirius started listing out his previous suggestions thoughtfully.

"Ssshh.." Arabella shushed him up. "We're trying to think now."

X

"I'm starting to like the past." Stefanie commented blissfully. Remus and Stefanie had disguised themselves into the commoners and were now walking along the side roads in Hogsmeade village.

"Everything is so much simpler." Remus agreed. They had been thinking of possible solutions for the last couple of hours. Another day had passed without any solutions for their problem and they decided that it would do all of them some good to take a three-hour break before continuing.

"Do you think there are another you and me at this time frame in Hogsmeade right now?" Stefanie asked randomly. They were holding hands, walking inconspicuously along a stream which leads to the future Hogwarts Lake.

"That is possible, seeing Liz and Bell." Remus smiled lovingly at his girlfriend. "And I'm sure even if I met you in the past; I would have fallen for you too."

"Really?" Stefanie blushed slightly. "I know I will fall for you too." She said in a slightly lower voice. Remus tilted her head up and planted a soft kiss on her lips.

"I promise that if the present time has changed, I will search all over the world just to look for you." Remus whispered. "There is no one else I rather be with other than you, I promise."

"That's what I love about you." Stefanie leaned her head against his shoulder. They sat down in front of a stream which overlooked the location where Hogwarts would be in the future. "I'm afraid that when we go back, everything will be different."

"It will definitely be different." Remus patted the back of her hand. "We will not have the burden of saving the world by then, and be just ordinary witch and wizard. No werewolf, no Voldemort."

"That life sounds really tempting." Stefanie smiled slightly; her eyes went a little teary with emotions.

"I know that will happen. We will meet again, probably in a different place and time, to continue this relationship that is bonded for eternity." Remus gazed lovingly at his girlfriend, and wiped a tear off her cheek.

"Where do you think we will meet? I don't know if I will even be Sirius' twin or cousin in the future." Stefanie took a deep breath at the fresh riverside air.

"I know that I will go all over the world just to look for the girl I love and want to protect with all my life. There is no one else but you. I assure you, we will definitely meet in the future." Remus pulled Stefanie closer for a hug. They sat there in silence, enjoying each other company, keeping the promise that will withstand the passing of time.


	137. On The Way

**Chapter 136: On The Way**

Elizabeth was pacing to and fro in front of them, looking quite flustered. "I can't believe we still haven't come up with any solution!" It has been almost a week since they have met for the first time. "And _He_ came to the palace and had a discussion with my father yesterday. Everyone in the palace was so worried for his safety." Her eye had gotten a little teary at the thought of her father's life at stake.

"We were thinking of using something from the future to defeat him. Did Zeus leave any hints about what we should use?" Stefanie gave Elizabeth a comforting hug.

"Not that I can remember." Elizabeth shook her head as she tried to remember the dream she had ages ago. "It was over a year ago, but I don't remember that he ever gave me the solution." She frowned at the thought. "I would have remember it clearly if he did." She muttered to no one in particular.

"Don't stress yourself first. He might have put it in a way that triggers your other thoughts or something. He must have told you the solution, but may not be the most direct way." Remus suggested in a softer voice. "A potion, or charm, or probably a spell from the future that you have not heard of?" Elizabeth placed her head in her hands, as if trying to search her memory for the forgotten solution. The rest looked at one another and each of them was deep in their thoughts when Sirius suddenly jumped up.

"It's lunch time." Sirius bounced in a strange cheery mood. "I'll get some food for us." He headed towards the door.

"I'll go with him to keep him away from trouble." James stood up and followed Sirius out of the room.

"Two troublemakers together, I highly doubt." Lily muttered under her breath. Harry and Ginny, who were sitting the closest to Lily, laughed silently to each other at her passing comment.

"Sorry, I really can't remember anything about the dream. Zeus told me not to write anything down and it has been so long.." Elizabeth apologized to everyone, looking crestfallen.

"Is it possible to have the same dream again?" Ginny asked. "Maybe you can look for the overlooked information again this time?"

"I only have that dream once, and that is after I drank the potion." Elizabeth told them. "No matter how hard I tried, I've never dreamt of it again. Is there any charms and potion in the future that helps to re-live a dream again?"

"I think I might have heard of a charm or spell that helps you relieve a dream again, during Divination or something." Remus said thoughtfully. "But it wasn't much of an impression."

"No recollection of it at all." Lily shook her head. "Can you remember the whole dream?" She turned to ask Elizabeth.

"More or less, I guess. I try to think about it everyday so the memory stays fresh in my mind." Elizabeth said. "Do you have any ideas?"

"Would you mind if I enter your mind to see your memory?" Stefanie asked. "I'll understand if you don't think-"

"Sure. Go ahead." Elizabeth closed her eyes to relive her dream while waiting for Stefanie to enter her mind.

"Alright, there goes." Stefanie took a deep breath and her mind entered into the Elizabeth's inner realm. Everyone in the room held their breath, keeping their fingers crossed and looking at the two women sitting in front of them with their eyes closed. The tension and uncertainties of the room was so strong that it could be sliced by a knife.

"I'll wait for James and Sirius outside." Harry whispered to Ginny before leaving the room as quietly as possible. He exchanged a look of understanding with Lily before closing the door after him.

X

"_They will come and help you." Zeus voice was low and filled with wisdom. _From Stefanie's point of view, it looked like she had already seen the vision of the future.

"_How can I tell that it's them?" Elizabeth asked curiously. _Stefanie watched the conversation between the two of them as Elizabeth tried to remember the dream. With long white hair and white robe, Zeus exuded an aura that was similar to Dumbledore – one that was full of wisdom and knowledge.

"_You just know it. Sometimes your mind works in a way beyond you think." Zeus bent down and touched Elizabeth's head, patting her like a little girl. _Stefanie listened to the conversation as closely as she could, trying to capture any possibility of missing hints. It was as if every sentence Zeus spoke had a hidden meaning waiting to be deciphered. "_You must come up with a solution."_

"_What solution?" Elizabeth asked. "I've just found out my reincarnate of two thousand years later meeting me in the recent future. I don't know if I can handle this."_

"_You'll be able to handle this. Princess, you've the power to change the history. You're the one who can change this history." Zeus said gently. "Remember the butterfly effect I once told you. Killing a butterfly today will affect the world a billion-fold in a million year's time."_

"_How could I have the power to change the future? I've no idea." Elizabeth said in a more exasperated tone._

"_You know you do. The answer lies within you." Zeus said. _Stefanie listened to the conversation closely while trying to decipher the meaning behind the statement.

"_The answer lies within me? What answer?"_

"_A sacrifice of love defeats an evil mind." _Stefanie thought. _What did he mean by that?_

"_What?" Elizabeth questioned the statement._

"_The answer will come when the situation strikes."_

"_Master, please do not speak in riddles. I am confused." Elizabeth looked away. "I don't know how to handle all these. I don't want my parents to be at risk. Please tell me how I can solve it."_

"_The answer lies in the heart of your mind. It has always been there."_

"_My mind?_ _My heart?" Elizabeth frowned._

"_Your future._ _Your destiny." Zeus spoke with a tone of finality. "I've to leave now. Don't ever forget this conversation."_

"_Master!"_ _Zeus vanished and suddenly everything became pitched black. _

Elizabeth opened her eyes and took a deep breath. She turned and saw Stefanie who was frowning and deep in thoughts.

"How was it?" Remus asked Stefanie in a soft voice and poured a cup of water for her.

"The answer lies in your heart. A sacrifice of love defeats an evil mind." Stefanie told everyone in the room. Just then, Harry entered the room silently with James and Sirius.

"How was it?" Sirius asked chirpily. "Any bright ideas?"

"A sacrifice of love defeats an evil mind." Stefanie repeated. "That's the solution."

"Does this mean that someone has to sacrifice?" Ginny spoke the thoughts that ran through everyone's mind.

"Who said that?" James frowned and said in a firm voice. "We'll all make it back safe and sound, together."

"Zeus."

X

"If anyone had to be sacrificed, I should be the one. Without anyone of you, I wouldn't have existed." Harry spoke. It was almost a day since Elizabeth left them after Stefanie entering her inner mind. They were all gathered in the girls' room, barely speaking a word, hiding from the world and feeling the burden on them.

"No." All of them disagreed at Harry's suggestion.

"I would rather be the one to be sacrificed than you." James' voice was filled with anger, at the unfairness of the whole situation.

"But I'm the one who have a connection with _them_." Harry argued.

"Who cares about that?" Sirius interrupted. "I don't agree you being sacrificed for nothing."

"This is _not_ nothing." Harry said in frustration. "This is about the entire well-being of the magical community."

"We may have mis-interpreted Zeus' words." Lily pointed out. "He may not be asking for a human sacrifice, it could be sacrifice of something intangible."

"Like love." Stefanie frowned at the thought of Zeus' words.

"Yes, my parents sacrificed themselves for my life." Harry was getting frustrated. "I ended up being an orphan for the last seventeen years. And I had to carry a burden of Voldemort's vengeance. Do you think I want to live it like that all over again?" Everyone of quiet at Harry's outburst. "I appreciate everyone for being concern about my safety and everything, but the point is, I want to change history. I certainly want a life where I grow up having parents who are _alive_ and well." James and Lily exchanged a grim look. Harry was right, and they knew it.

"We know what you mean." Stefanie said sympathetically. "Harry's life was anything but happy. Vernon and Petunia definitely didn't give him the family he deserved." She looked at Harry, who was looking at the ground. "And the future is not something we want. We don't want Lily, James and Sirius to die, or Remus and Belle who live their lives alone and with regrets, or Ginny losing her brother."

"Or Stef's cease in existence." Remus added quietly. "That's why we are here for. If sacrifices must be made, as much as we hate to do it, we know we had to. Not because we want, but because we _need_."

"I don't know why, but I feel that I am going to disappear soon." Harry said in a low voice. "Perhaps the future had already been changed with all these hesitations."

"I've the same feeling too." Ginny admitted. "We didn't want to tell you all initially. But Harry and I did feel that, very soon, we will vanish and probably none of you would have remembered our existence, because we never existed."

"How long have it been?" James demanded. "Why didn't you tell us?"

"About two days ago, and the feeling is getting stronger, especially after what we heard Zeus's premonitions." Harry confessed.

"We have to take action as soon as possible, before anything else happens." Arabella said what was going through everyone's mind.

X

"Don't even think of testing this here!" Stefanie warned Sirius who was about to throw a small packet of harmless looking powder.

"I wasn't going to do anything, honestly." Sirius put his hands up surrendering. "Why would I waste my precious invention in here?"

"Don't give me that, I know what's going on in your twisted mind. Dungbombing my bedroom is one of your pranking fortes." Stefanie took the innocent-looking packet away from his hand and put in on the table among ten other identical packets.

"Caught red-handed." James chortled as he looked up with his pile of random transfigured items. He continued transfiguring another branch into a tiny smoke bomb.

"These goggles should be fine." Lily was trying out the charmed goggles that Remus had transfigured earlier.

"I wonder what will happen when they eat all these." Harry commented amusingly. Both he and Ginny were coming up with Fred's and George's idea of prank. They tried to follow the twins' recipe at conjuring poison to cause a person to get constipation, vomit, feverish, etc. The only problem was that, it was all transfigured items from what they remembered in Weasley's Wizard Wheezes. The results would remain unknown as none of them would be testing the products themselves.

"They will be too sick to get into a wizard's duel with us." Ginny replied as she grinded up the pills and divided them into eight transfigured vials.

"I can't think of any more charm to be place onto these clothes." Lily tried to remember all the protection charms they have learned. "Waterproofing, fireproofing, emergency floating, reflective.." She mumbled to the seven set of modern-day clothes that were spread in front of her on the bed.

"Accio Remus' wand." Remus was testing the pile of transfigured wands from twigs. They had spent fifteen minutes at the inn backyard and garden collecting all fallen leaves and twigs to be used as transfigured weapons. "Accio Stefanie's wand." Stefanie's wand flew out of her hand to Remus' left hand.

"Hey." Stefanie laughed as Remus threw the wand back to her.

"I gotta test to make sure they respond to everyone's wand." He placed the fifth wand to the pile while transfiguring the next twig.

"Fireworks, checked." Arabella was packing the randomly transfigured items into the eight sling bags. "And water.." Since they had no idea what would they need, they spent the day randomly transfiguring items that might come in handy when they start 'attacking' the School of Zar the next day. "And rope, checked."

"_Engorgio_." James held the enlarging baseball bat with both hands and cast a reduced-weigh charm on it. "Good. _Reparo_." The stool was broken by a gentle hit from the bat and was replaced instantly by magic.

"These are amazing." Lily grinned at James' palm-sized baseball bats.

"Wait till you try them out." James smirked. "These are more powerful beyond your imagination."

"I can't wait." Lily joked. The tension in the room was much lower than before. Everyone was working towards to create a success at their random plan to capture the 'root of all evil'. Despite the jokes and casual remarks, everyone was feeling nervous and unsure about the whole thing. The question of how to get rid of Salazar's stepfather, and probably even Salazar, remained a question.


	138. Ancient Magic

**Chapter 137: Ancient Magic**

"Look at those the three boys over there. It is almost like seeing the Marauders when they were kids." Lily commented jokingly. The three boys, about ten years old were climbing up the tree with such agility and competing on who climbed the highest.

"Yeah." Stefanie chuckled at the thought of James and Sirius when they were kids. "Time passes so fast. Childhood felt like such a long time ago." Both of them were walking in the town, hoping to gather some inspiration and taking a break from all the stress on world peace. James and Remus decided to visit Godric again while Sirius and Harry felt the necessity in having some harmless fun in Hogsmeade. They were all taking turns to stay with Arabella just in case anything happening since she had no magical powers, and right now it was Ginny's turn.

"Wow, these bows look absolutely gorgeous." Lily bent down to take a closer look at the array of bows and arrows on display. "The engravings are so intricate." She mumbled to no one in particular.

"Miss, you have very good taste." The seller told Lily. "These are all individually made, filled with the greatest magical powers you can ever imagine. Muggles uses these things for war while the rich community uses these for hunting."

"Sounds fascinating." Stefanie and Lily nodded agreeing, while continued looking through the arrows.

"These arrows are made from the world's finest metals; one arrow can kill an elephant." The seller was commenting on his products. "It consists of all magical metals, and the wood has carvings that make each and every individual unique."

"I see." Lily nodded approvingly. She looked around to see if anyone was stopping by to check out these exquisite bows and arrows, but apparently it seemed like they were the only customers.

"People rarely stop by to even view my bows and arrows because they are too expensive for most of them. Most of my bows are bought by the royal family as they insist that every single bow must be exquisite and I am the only bow maker in this village." The seller was telling them, seeing both ladies are wiling to listen.

"Then you could sell them to the imperial army, since they may have more use for the bows than commoners." Lily asked out of curiosity.

"Slytherin has been creating more powerful weapons and potions, people go to him with ordinary hunting arrows, so that they can increase the magical ability of it. Since then, I haven't been able to do much."

"Oh, sorry to hear that." Stefanie apologized. "But these bows and arrows are really pretty. Right down to the arrow head."

"This arrow head consists of the hardest structure on earth, diamond." The shopkeeper was promoting his products. "It is unbreakable and able to penetrate all animals, both magical and non-magical."

"How much is this?" Lily asked, holding up the arrowhead the shopkeeper was promoting.

"Twelve knuts." The shopkeeper said, looking on the ground as though being apologetic about the price.

"I'll take it." Lily smiled. The shopkeeper looked up and beamed gratefully at both of them.

"I'll pack it for you right away." He took the arrow head gently and packaged it immediately.

"By the way, what kind of weapons and potions are Slytherin creating?" Stefanie asked nonchalantly, as if making small talk.

"I'm not too sure. I didn't want to go against him as he is too powerful. But I heard it has something to do with dark arts." The shopkeeper said in a low voice. "Don't go looking for trouble. He is not someone you can deal with."

"Thanks. We won't." Lily smiled innocently and the two girls left the shop.

X

"So we are proceeding on with this plan?" Remus asked again. After another week of procrastinating brain-storming session, they decided that it was better to take action than doing more planning.

"The risks are enormous, and the outcome is.. shady." Stefanie pointed out.

"I think we should proceed on." Lily voted in agreement. "James has a point. It is useless if we keep brainstorming about what to do. We should just go on and face it. The solution might just come to us at that point."

"We should check out if the Unforgivable Curses are in existence at this point of time first." Harry added. "It wouldn't be useful if they do."

"That's a good point." Sirius added enthusiastically. "We could always ask-"

"Remember, your great-great-great grandma?" James commented teasingly.

"I wasn't going to say Rowena." Sirius defended. "I was going to suggest Godric. What are you guys thinking of?"

"Right." Remus muttered. "So let's carry on with the preparations so we can carry out the plan in three days time."

"Nothing beats a good supply of transfigured timed-dungbombs." Sirius started transfiguring the pile of twigs in front of him to dungbombs.

"I will-" A knock on the door interrupted Harry. "That's probably Liz." Ginny, being the nearest to the door, opened it.

"How is it going?" Elizabeth asked the moment she entered the room while changing the appearance back to her real self.

"We intend to get prepared and just proceed on with the plan." James told her. "There's a question we wanted to know."

"What is it? I will tell you everything I know."

"Have you heard of the Killing Curse, the Cruciatus and Imperius Curses?" Stefanie asked.

"What does the Curciatus and Imperius Curses do?" Elizabeth frowned. "I've never heard of them. What are the incantations?" After a moment of silence, James placed the wand away from him, for fear of mis-firing, and said the incantations of the Unforgivable Curses in a low voice.

"These three curses are considered Unforgivable Curses, and the usage of any one of them will be imprisoned in Azkaban, not too sure if you heard of the wizarding prison." Remus told her.

"Honestly, I've no idea about these curses. And I haven't heard of Askaban prison." Elizabeth said. "Leave it to me. I'll check it out and get back to you tomorrow. Is there anything else?"

"Not for the moment. Thank you so much for your help." Arabella said. "Do be careful."

"Don't worry about me. We will all do our best." With the exchange of thank-you and goodbyes, Elizabeth metamorphosized and left the room.

"Fire-proofing charm." Lily flipped the advanced Charms book that she bought along with her from the modern times. Apparently, it did come in handy now.

"How about Curse-reflecting charm?" Stefanie suggested to Lily, turning the page to the 'C' section.

"What do you think of smoke bombs for distractions?" Sirius asked no one in particular and conjured up one of their pranking equipments. "Maybe water-guns could come in handy too."

"We need to have back-up wands." James told Remus as they conjured up duplicates of their own wands.

"Not-forgetting an Unbreakable charm on our wands." Remus reminded.

X

"There are no Unforgivable Curses known now. I've checked the books and asked the royal advisors, there are no curses for killing, torture and control over people's action till now. Perhaps they've yet to come into existence." Elizabeth told them. "And, the prisoners are locked in the dungeons not too far from Hogsmeade, and not in Askaban Island or something."

"Could Slytherin be the creator of these curses?" Harry asked. "We never really know the origins of these Unforgivables."

"Harry has a point there; there are a lot of risks involved especially we don't know much a lot about our enemy." James added.

"I'll go with you tomorrow." Elizabeth told them.

"No, you can't." Arabella protested. "You can't risk your life."

"That's right." Lily agreed. "Your father and your country need you."

"Alright." Elizabeth sighed. "You all must succeed. Otherwise there will be chaos all over the country, not just here. Disaster will strike again and innocent lives will be lost."

"Again?" Remus asked. "It had happened before?"

"I don't know the full story because it is something no one wants to talk about it or be reminded of." Elizabeth started. "Ten years ago, Slytherin threatened Father and wanted him to transfer the title and land to him, but Father refused. Following that, he created a flood to destroy the land and villages around this area. All other non-magical communities perished in the flood, and Hogsmeade is the only surviving village left. To others, the flood was a natural disaster, but Father and I know that is not the case. My mother had sacrificed in order to save us."

"Sorry to hear that." Arabella said apologetically.

"It's alright." Elizabeth took a deep breath. "Just tell me if you need anything else. I'll try my best to assist all of you in this mission."

X

_When one is born, one is only considered half. Sometimes, they will have a feeling of incompleteness. Till the day when one meets another person, suddenly everything seems completed. It is a feeling like meeting someone close whom you have lost contact with for many years. When both of you are together, ultimate happiness prevails. This person is your other half. With this person, then one is considered completed._

Elizabeth flipped a few more pages and skimmed through the contents of _Ancient Magical Myths and Legends_.

_By using two ordinary items with extraordinary significance, combine with a couple's undying love for each other, and a willingness to sacrifice, a strong force from Mother Nature will rise to alter the dimension. _

"Could this be the solution?" Elizabeth's voice echoed in the empty royal library.

X

"Is everyone ready?" James asked as he zipped up his jacket and inserted three spare wands on the newly created wand-pockets at the right side of his pants. They had been preparing for the battle in silence for almost an hour after dinner, and right now they were in the girls' room waiting for Elizabeth's arrival.

"More or less." Sirius answered in a rarely heard serious tone. He buckled the waist pouch on and sat down by the table. Just then, a knock interrupted.

"Hey." Arabella opened the door.

"I found some information from the books, but I'm not sure if it works." Elizabeth said in one breath.

"What information?" Sirius asked anxiously.

"Firstly, I can transfer my magical powers to Bell for twenty-four hours. So she can battle alongside with all of you."

"How?" Arabella asked.

"By mixing our blood together." Elizabeth said simply. "It can work only because we're the same person, having the same soul. But in exchange for this day of magical powers, both our lifespan will be shortened by ten years. Are you alright with this?" Everyone turned to Arabella.

"Yes, I'll do it." Arabella nodded without hesitation. "What's ten years compared to our entire future?"

"I'm not a hundred percent sure about this. But this information was found in a book I came across. How many people have the opportunity to meet their incarnate to do something like this? There're a lot of uncertainties and risks involved as not much details was given."

"At least it's a chance, if we don't do this; it is zero hope for us."

"Alright, let's do it." Elizabeth opened her filled bag and took out a short dagger. After casting a Painless Charm on both hers and Arabella's hand, she gave a cut across her left palm. With that, Arabella followed suit and gave a cut on her left palm parallel to Elizabeth's.

"Now." Arabella clasped her hand against Elizabeth.

"Aahhh." The two girls looked like they were in pain as they gripped each other's hand tightly and started breathing heavily while keeping their eyes closed. After five minutes, or what felt like eternity, they repelled each other and fell backwards. Everyone rushed forward immediately.

"How are you feeling?" Arabella shook her head to get the giddiness sensation off.

"I'm fine. How about you?" Arabella asked Elizabeth who was being supported by Stefanie and Ginny.

"Not too bad." Elizabeth smiled. "Give this a try." She threw her wand over to Arabella.

"_Accio_ pillow." Arabella's pillow flew over immediately to her hand. "It works."

"That's great." Elizabeth grinned. "You should be able to metamorphosize too." With that, Arabella closed her eyes and changed her appearance.

"That's pretty good for a start." Lily laughed; looking at Arabella who looked like her but was still wearing her own clothes.

"How are you going to take care of yourself now?" Stefanie asked Elizabeth. "You can't go around looking like this."

"I've got all my stuffs here." Elizabeth shook her bag. "Oh, one more thing."

"What is it?"

"Take a look at this." Elizabeth took out a think square book from her bag.

_By using two ordinary items with extraordinary significance, combine with a couple's undying love for each other, and a willingness to sacrifice, a strong force from Mother Nature will rise to alter the dimension. At this point of time, when both parties make a sincere wish, be it any kind of wish, it will definitely come true. Only with love, the world can be saved._

_Most couples usually share the same wish, which is to be with each other for eternity. They will spend a hundred years together, creating love and harmony among many descendents, and passed on together after that._

"This.." Lily looked up and caught James' eyes.

"I think this could be what Zeus referred to as 'a sacrifice of love defeats an evil mind'." Remus said what was in everyone's mind.

"What ordinary items could it be?" James asked.

"I believe we'll know when the time comes." Stefanie said, giving Remus a nod of understanding.

"No, you two are not allowed to be sacrificed." James protested. "This could just be a myth or something. All of us have to make it back safe and sound." This time his assurance was not as confident as before.

"I don't know if I'm doing the right thing by showing you all this." Elizabeth said in a low voice. "I couldn't find any other information. If anything ever happened to anyone of you, I'll be guilty for the rest of my life."

"Don't be." Arabella gave her shoulders a squeeze. "We're all doing our best. You've done yours, leave the rest to us."

"Of course." Elizabeth mustered up a smile despite getting all teary eyed. The five girls huddled together and gave a group hug.

"I want a hug too." Sirius opened his arms and wrapped around the five girls. Despite at such ominous moment, everyone could not help but laughed at Sirius' juvenile gesture.


	139. A Sacrifice of Love Defeats an Evil Mind

**Chapter 138: A Sacrifice of Love Defeats an Evil Mind**

"What shall we do now?" Harry said in a low voice to the camouflaged group as they gathered a few blocks away from the School of Zar, which they fondly remembered it as the Shrieking Shack.

"Let's sneak in and see what's Slytherin is up to?" James replied after a few seconds of silence. One by one, the eight of them slipped through the gap at the gate into the compound. They tiptoed towards the nearest window that was emitting light.

Before they could even reach the window, the front door opened magically.

"I've been waiting for you." A deep menacing voice called out. A wave of dread swept over them as they took a deep breath.

"Let's go in." Remus spoke out since everyone was too tensed to speak. They walked precariously through the opened door into the dimly lit room, still camouflaged by the Disillusion Charm.

"Heaven must be helping me." A dark shadowy figure moved towards their direction. "Sending me all seven protectors."

"What are you up to?" Sirius asked angrily. "Don't even think we'll help you with your evil deeds."

"Shouldn't the Protectors be proud of my actions?" The man walked towards their direction slowly but in a threatening way. With a wave, the Disillusion Charm was lifted. "To rid the world of imperfections."

"Yes, you are the imperfection." James said boldly.

"Potter, tsk tsk, you should have some respect of elders." The man looked like he was in his fifties, with streaks of white hair. He would have been able to pass off as a merciful grandfather, if not for the evil glint in his eyes and his ruthless expression. "Do you think the few of you can defeat Slytherin the Great?"

"Even if we can't, we'll perish with you." Harry said defiantly.

"Like father, like son." Slytherin shook his head, chuckling evilly. "Look at Salazar, he made a wise choice by following me." Salazar was standing behind him, at the doorway, watching the whole exchange without much expression. "With the remaining six of you, the world will be moving towards a better future. I'm sure how much you must have hated the future, that's why all of you are here to change the past."

"Yes, to kill you." Sirius was getting angrier at Slytherin's smirking expression.

"Looks like you all haven't figure out my powers. Do you need me to demonstrate?" Slytherin turned and faced them, staring at them with a piercing glare. "Now, who should I take first?" The eight of them moved closer together. "Of course, I'll take the most useless one, Weasley."

"Ginny!!" Slytherin held up his hand and Ginny was pulled magically over to him before Harry could grab hold onto her hand. He held onto Ginny on the neck tightly despite her constant struggling.

"Expelli-" Harry dashed forward pointing his wand at Slytherin while muttering any spells that he could think of. With a wave on Slytherin's left hand, Harry was thrown towards the wall on the left.

"Harry!" Harry wobbled as he tried to stand up, despite the hurting joints after the crash against the wall.

"How dare you kick me?" Slytherin said mockingly. "This looks like a good time for me to display my new spells. I'm sure you must be familiar with this. _Crucio_." Ginny fell onto the ground, twisting and tossing around. She bit her lips to prevent herself from screaming out loud and give Slytherin the sense of satisfaction.

"Stop!" Lily ran forward and tried to take the pain off Ginny.

"Ahh, the Healer." Slytherin spoke knowingly. "Do you want to try another of my new curse?"

"No!!" James shouted out and attempted to shield Lily but was too late.

"_Imperio_." Lily jerked and suddenly her expression became unreadable.

X

"Don't you believe me?" Elizabeth said exasperatedly. "I'm Lisa. Remember that time we sneaked to Mrs. Hufflepuff's kitchen to steal her homemade cookies with Helga?"

"Oh." Rowena jolted in realization. "That was you. Oh my gosh."

"What I told you is nothing but the truth." Elizabeth was pacing around in Rowena's bedroom. "Now we need to convince Godric and Helga."

"How're you going to get out there looking like this?" Rowena pointed out. Despite the simplicity in Elizabeth's dressing, her Princess aura along with her exquisite eye color made her stood out among the other villagers.

"That's why I got this." Elizabeth took out a small container with two compartments. "They told me about the invention of coluored contact lenses." Facing the mirror, she carefully placed the contact lenses into her eyes. "Now I look as normal as everyone else." Brown eyes, brownish blonde hair, not much difference from you or Helga."

"I can't outtalk you." Rowena laughed. "Let's go then."

X

"Lily!" James tried to knock her back into her senses, but Lily just stared at him without much expression.

"Stab Potter with this." A silver dagger appeared magically on Lily's right hand.

"Lily, it's me, James." Lily blinked and it seemed like she was trying to fight the Imperius Curse within herself. At the same time, Stefanie used her telekinetic power to move the dagger away while Sirius used his eyes to control Lily's hand movements.

"NOW!" James cast a wandless Disarming Charm before Lily could stab him.

"That's not working too well." Slytherin mocked. "Try again, do it well this time." With that, he grabbed hold of Ginny's neck tighter until she started coughing for air. "Do you want to witness my last Curse, the most formidable one of all?" James turned and tried to pull Ginny over using wandless magic but Slytherin was too strong for him. Without thinking, Arabella charged straight at Slytherin and gave him a hard kick on his right shin and then his groin, causing him to break contact with Lily's Imperius curse and letting go of Ginny.

"You alright?" Harry dashed across towards Ginny. Her face was red and she was coughing for air, and nodded silently.

"Lily!" James and Stefanie caught hold of Lily who collapsed suddenly out of exhaustion.

"I.." Lily mumbled incoherently.

"Sshhh, conserve your energy." James said softly before turning his glare back at Slytherin.

Suddenly Slytherin's wand flew across the room into Sirius' hand and he broke the wand into two pieces before burning the remains with a magical fire.

"Kids." Slytherin stood up effortlessly. "Do you really think that can stop anything?" He chuckled to himself before turning and facing Harry. "Avada-"

"NO!!" Lily shouted and a very strong force came out from her body which propelled everyone outwards.

"Aaaahhhhh!!" Stefanie flew out of the window and was clinging onto the windowsill for support as Lily's inner energy was too intense.

"STEFF!!" Remus shouted and dashed towards Stefanie's direction despite being shoved against the wall.

"That was some energy you got that." Slytherin shook his head in disgust. "Makes me wonder how a mudblood like you can gain such magical powers."

"Don't you dare!" James stepped in front of Lily protectively with his hands up in combat mode.

"How about seeing your friends die before your eyes?" Slytherin threatened menacingly at James. Ginny and Harry were leaning against the wall at one corner, Stefanie and Remus were standing defiantly by the window, while Arabella and Sirius were on the side of Slytherin but opposite direction. Everyone was glaring at him with anger and disgust, despite their superficial and probably internal wounds.

X

"Dric, do you really believe me?" Elizabeth asked anxiously in a low voice at the back of the blacksmith shop. Rowena nodded in agreement. The two girls had just dashed to Godric's shop and grabbed him to the back room to tell him about the battle and he believed them with no questions asked.

"Yes, I know all about them." Godric said. "Give me a minute and I'll catch up with you two at Helga's." The three exchanged a knowing nod before running in opposite directions.

X

"You two shall die first." Slytherin said with an evil glint in his eyes. He held out his hands and James and Lily flew straight towards him. He was strangling their necks despite their constant struggling. At the corner of his eye, he could see Lily was losing her breath as her movements were getting less vigorous. The rest of them tried to cast spells at Slytherin but there was some sort of dark greenish shield that prevented the spells from reaching them.

"Lily.. don't.. give.. up.." James tried to shout out to Lily. She heard it and gave a loud scream and started kicking vigorously once more.

"Off you go." Slytherin said in a sinister way. With that, he threw both of them upwards. James and Lily flew up with such force that they broke the layers of wooden ceiling along the way.

"LILY!!"

"JAMES!!"

"Aaaahhhhh!" Lily of screaming while she tried to think of a solution to save herself. "JAMES!!"

"LILY!!" James was trying to reach Lily but she was slightly ahead of him. They were at least ten metres above ground when they realized that they were falling. James was trying to transfigure the grass patch that they were falling on into a large bubble cushion but the speed was too fast. Despite the slight cushioning effect, they fell onto the grass with a loud thud. "Are you alright?" James tried to move but he was hurting badly.

"James, we won't be able to make it back." Lily mumbled in a soft voice, tears started falling on her cheeks. She moved towards James with great difficulties.

"Don't say that." James mustered up all his energy to raise his left hand to wipe the tears off Lily's blood-stained face despite the growing pain on his arm and shoulder. "I'm here with you."

"In this life or the next, the only one for me is only James Potter." Lily spoke first, keeping her gaze at James.

"Don't you have any fear?" James tried to crack a joke at Lily's earlier actions.

"You're such a dummy." Lily gave a small laugh. James leaned forward to kiss Lily, for what felt like the very last time. "Do you think we'll meet again in the next life?"

"At our next life, we'll recognize each other at first sight." James gave his trademark grin although he could feel his energy depleting.

"Please don't ever leave me." Lily's eyelids were feeling heavy despite the tears. She leaned forward against James' chest.

"I promise. I'll never leave you." James reached out to Lily and pulled her closer.

"Even when this life is over." Lily's voice was getting weaker and softer.

"Even when the next life begins." James' looked up at the dark star-less night.

"Forever." Lily mumbled, her eyes closed but a smile was on her lips.

"Forever." James replied as he closed his eyes.

"You and only you, forever." That was the last thing Lily Evans ever said.

"I'll love you." And that was the last thing James Potter ever said.

X

"I want you pay for their lives!" Sirius said in anger as he charged thoughtlessly at Slytherin. With a wave, Sirius was sent flying against the wall with an 'ouch'.

From the window, Remus and Stefanie could see that James and Lily were thrown to a far away area and had fallen from a great height. The possibility of being alive from such a fall was slim, even if one knew magic. Remus ran towards Slytherin casting all the defending spells he could remember in a state of anger. With another wave, Slytherin cast dark magic and chopped off Remus' wand hand.

"AAAHHHH!!" Remus retreated backwards and Stefanie caught him before he could fall.

"What shall we do now?" Stefanie asked worriedly, the shoulder where Remus' right-hand was started breeding profusely.

"Shall we try what Liz suggested?" Remus said in a strained tone as the pain of losing a limb was unbearable.

"Yes, but what are the items?" Stefanie whispered, frightened tears were forming in her eyes. Right now, Sirius, Arabella, Harry and Ginny were engaged in a direct fight with Slytherin, and they were fighting a losing battle. Suddenly, Harry was thrown towards their direction and the two of them jumped apart while Stefanie tried to pull onto him but was too late. He was thrown against the wall again. The Light Compass flew out from his bag and cracked into two pieces in front of them. The colours were still swirling in the middle despite that it was broken into two halves.

"I think that's the one." Remus gave a look of understanding while applying pressure on his wound to slow down the breeding. Stefanie replied with a determined look and grabbed both halves without hesitation. With that Remus pulled Stefanie's hand with his blood-stained left hand and ran out of the house to the nearest isolated point in Hogsmeade.

"Look at those people you call friends." Slytherin taunted. Sirius was in a state of disbelief as he saw his best friend and his twin running away from them.

"Well, I won't." Sirius continued to fight on, pointing his wand at Slytherin once more. Arabella was standing right beside him, giving him a positive nod despite all her injuries.

X

Harry opened his eyes as he heard the conversation between Sirius and Slytherin. _What is this?_ He looked at the silver conical object right in front of his line of vision. He mustered up his energy to pick up the object in front of him. _It's an arrowhead._ _What is this doing here? _He tried to push himself up and saw Ginny lying not too far away from him. Sirius and Arabella were still engaged in a losing battle with Slytherin.

"Ginny." Harry whispered. "You can't die."

"No, I won't." Ginny opened her eyes a little. "But I'm very tired."

"Look at this arrowhead; do you think it means anything?"

"It means we have to transfigure ourselves into a human arrow and pierce Slytherin's heart." Ginny mumbled without thinking.

"That's it!! That's what we're supposed to do." Harry sat up with his newfound energy and pulled Ginny up.

Grabbing his wand, he transfigured a fallen wooden plank into a large bow and more fallen wood pieces into arrows. Using his wand, he tried to maneuver the bow and arrow to aim at Slytherin.

"Looks like you're having some fun over there." Slytherin pointed his finger at Harry and Ginny's direction and shot a green flame at them, burning all the transfigured arrows.

X

"Remus, do you know what wish I want to make?" Stefanie asked Remus, as she gazed worriedly at his injured shoulder. There was a dark and gloomy feeling about Hogsmeade and not a single soul was found in the streets. Screams, banging sounds and sparks from the wands were coming out from the window of the School of Zar.

"I know. I'm ready, without hesitation. What about you?" Remus said confidently, smiling despite the pain.

"Our friends and families are doing their best in creating a better future for everyone. We should contribute too." Stefanie looked up at the sky. There were only two stars shinning brightly in the cloudy night.

"I know you don't like warfare. We'll use peace and love, to play our part." Remus understood what Stefanie was thinking even without her saying anything.

"Remus Lupin is always sparing a thought for me. If there is a next life, I want to be Remus' wife forever and ever." Stefanie looked up lovingly at Remus, blushing as she confessed her feelings.

"Stefanie Black, I love you, till the oceans dry and rocks crumble, a never-changing vow." Remus bent forward and kissed Stefanie gently on her lips. Just at that moment, the two broken pieces of Light Compass seemed to have a life of its own joined together and rose above their heads, emitting a bright red and orange glow.

"Let's hurry and make the wish." Remus said, looking at the magical Light Compass in awe.

"A sincere wish from the heart is the most effective." _I wish that there will be no evil in the world. I wish that Slytherin will be defeated tonight once and for all. I wish that Voldemort or Tom Riddle will not come into existence at any point of time in the future. I wish for a better future for all of us. I wish I will be with Remus forever. _Stefanie closed her eyes and put both her palms against her chest.

"With sincerity." Remus nodded. "Stef, so it turns out, there really is the edge of heaven, the end of the sea."

"Yes, it's right here. As long as there's love, they're in our hearts." Stefanie placed her right hand to her chest, smiling lovingly at Remus. "Where do you think we're going?"

"Perhaps we'll become phoenixes, and be together forever." Remus chuckled. "But I've lost my right arm, and can't have proper wings for flying now."

"Remus has always supported me, protected me and took care of me. Now, Stefanie Black will take care of Remus Lupin. I'll take you wherever we go, even if it means we're flying together."

"Silly, how can you fly when you are holding onto me?" Remus smiled and Stefanie's innocent remark.

"Remember our hearts are connected. Let's go, wherever it may be." And that was the last time Remus Lupin and Stefanie Black's human forms were in existence in history. With a red glow from Remus and an orange glow from Stefanie, the two sparks rose higher and higher into the dark sky.

X

"What's going on?" The wooden house they were fighting in started to shake and crumble. The four of them exchanged a look and started running out of the house before it could collapse on them.

"Let's go." Sirius grabbed Arabella's hand and pulled her along while Harry and Ginny was running together right behind them. "I think I know what did Moony and Stef did."

"You don't mean.." Arabella wanted to ask, but it was not necessary as everyone already knew what happened.

"The Light Compass broke into two, and they took it along with them." Harry said, as the four of them ran out of the gate, nearer to Hogsmeade. "Sirius, we've an idea." Harry was shouting out to Sirius as they ran. "Transfigure us to a human arrow and pierce Slytherin right in the heart." Harry told him as he held out his transfigured bow. "'The answer will come when the situation strikes.' Zeus' last words."

"If anything, I should be the one sacrificing, not you two." Sirius turned and faced Harry.

"No, we can pierce his heart because we're in love. Love is the most ancient magic feared by the darkest wizards. It is unexplainable and unfathomable."

"In that case, we'll do that." Sirius said in his strongest voice, and bit his lips.

"Nooo.." Arabella shook her head in tears. "We can't do that." She reached for Ginny's shoulders and pulled her into a hug.

"Sirius!!"

"Belle!!"

"Ginny!!" Elizabeth, Rowena, Godric and Helga were running towards their direction.

"Where are the rest?" Elizabeth asked frantically as she looked for Lily, James, Remus and Stefanie. The four of them shook their heads and looked down. "NOOO!! That's can't be true!!" Tears started falling uncontrollably as her legs gave way. Godric and Rowena grabbed hold onto her before she could collapse.

"We don't have time for this. Slytherin is still alive." Sirius said urgently.

"Transfigure Ginny and I into a human arrow and aim straight at Slytherin's heart." Harry said boldly. "I've got the idea from this arrowhead." He held out a small silver arrowhead which emits a magical strength beyond explanation.

"You two can't sacrifice." Godric said urgently. "There must be another way."

"We have to." Ginny agreed. "James and Lily, Remus and Stefanie, have already sacrifice themselves for this. Slytherin is much weaker now when we use sacrificial love to deal with him. We're the last pair now, please grant our wish and kill him. I want a better life in the future. And I don't want any of my brothers to die because of Voldemort."

"More people are here to die tonight." Slytherin's threatening voice came from the back. A dark looming shadow was getting closer to them. The eight of them stared at their greatest enermy.

"NOW!!" Harry held Ginny close together while Sirius performed a never-been-done-before human-to-object transfiguration. Godric held up his finest bow in preparation for the human arrow.

"Trying to defeat me, not so easy." Slytherin taunted and laughed. "I'm invincible."

"That's too early to tell." Godric laughed. The sparks from Sirius' wand morphed Harry and Ginny into one large golden arrow and position itself magically onto Godric's wand. After aiming confidently, he released the tension and sent the arrow flying at full speed, piercing Slytherin right in the heart.

"AAAHHHH!!" Slytherin screamed in pain as the arrow shot him straight through his body. The golden glow grew so bright that it almost lit up the entire Hogsmeade village. After what seemed like eternity, a loud explosion could be heard after Slytherin's final screams.

Slytherin's remains had vanished forever into the night from the face of the earth. The golden arrow burst into a large mass of golden sparkles and rained down onto the entire Hogsmeade, brightening up the dark moon-less night. Curious heads were popping out from the windows, and people coming out from the shops to look at the phenomenon of gold dust falling onto Hogsmeade. The root of evil had been defeated, finally.


	140. A New Beginning

**Chapter 139: A New Beginning**

"What shall we do now?" Arabella broke the silence at the dining table. What had happen the night before felt like a nightmare.

"There's nothing we can do now." Sirius replied in a tired tone. The mischievous glint in his eyes was gone. His face was expressionless and unreadable.

"Both of you are not alone, we're all here." Elizabeth was sympathetic. The dining room in the palace was bright and spacious, with an aura of goodness, instead of the gloomy palace that Elizabeth had been living in for the last ten years. She had invited Sirius and Arabella to stay with her in the palace as her personal maid and bodyguard in title. After that fateful night, both of them had barely spoken a word in the last twenty-four hours.

"They had not died in vain, they saved us all. Without them, we won't be here." Godric said calmly despite his grief.

"They'll want us to carry on with our lives." Rowena added. "Although they're gone, they're always alive in our hearts." She gave Arabella a reassuring hug, eyes getting teary at the thought.

"All of you have to eat something." Godric reasoned. "By sitting here and mopping around, we're not going to achieve anything. What we can do now is to move on, do what they had set out to do in the first place."

"Dric has a point. We don't want them to die in vain." Helga whispered. She scooped a roll each onto Arabella's and Sirius' plates.

"Thanks guys. I've no appetite." Arabella stood up. "I'm going out for some fresh air, please carry on." She walked out of the dining hall towards the main entrance.

"Let me go instead." Sirius petted Rowena's left shoulder. She gave a nod of understanding and Sirius left and went towards Arabella's direction.

"What shall we do now?" Rowena asked the other three people left by the table.

"There's not much we can do other than being there and supporting them." Elizabeth sighed. "Six best friends gone, and trapped in a foreign place, it's really hard. The people who stay behind suffer more than those who are gone." The four set in silence for a few minutes before starting their dinner without much words being said.

X

"Bell, are you alright there?" Sirius called out as he spotted Arabella's backview.

"Yeah, guess so." Arabella kept her gaze in the sky which was dotted with thousands of stars illuminating the night.

"What're you thinking of?" Sirius now stood beside Arabella, looking at the direction of her gaze.

"Do you see that starry arch over there?" Arabella pointed at the four brightest stars aligned in a slight concave arch some distant away.

"Yes, do you think they represent something?" Sirius asked in a low voice.

"I think those are the star protectors of the magical community." Arabella said. "Only people with magical abilities can see them."

"But according to the legend, shouldn't there be seven stars?"

"That should be the case." Arabella nodded. "But if the star is within the person, it may only be released after the person dies."

"Are you saying that the four stars are Stefanie, Remus, James and Lily?"

"That's what I think." Arabella whispered. "I don't remember ever seeing these four stars before or learning much about them except from the children's story."

"Do you reckon the last three stars are within us?" Sirius asked.

"There's one within you, I'm sure about that. But I don't know about myself, it could be within me or Liz. And the last one should be within Salazar."

"What about Godric, Rowena and Helga?" Sirius asked. They were their descendents after all.

"I guess it's within the last incarnation. Like James is the descendent of Godric, and now that he's-" Arabella paused, not wanting to say the word. "I don't have magical power anymore, that's why I assumed it might be with Liz." She sighed. It was good to do magic again the day before, but now, her borrowed powers were gone. "Salazar is the sole descendent for that star at this point, that's why I thought the star should still be within him."

"Do you mean that it will only form the complete arch when we die?"

"Probably." Arabella shrugged. "That was our destiny." Both of them stood side by side for a long time, without talking, gazing at the stars ahead, deep in thoughts.

X

"I'll look for Zar first thing tomorrow." Godric was telling his plans to everyone that remained at the dining room.

"Then we will set up the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry." Rowena nodded firmly.

X

"There is a tunnel leading from Hogwarts to Honeydukes." Sirius suggested as he pointed to the bottom left side of the parchment. Tthe seven of them were now sitting around a large parchment, drawing the floor plan of Hogwarts.

"Honeydukes?" Elizabeth asked.

"Oh, I mean the restaurant Mrs. Puff." Sirius corrected. "It became a sweet shop named Honeydukes in our time."

"That sounds cool." Helga nodded with a smile. "I like that."

"And a path to the shr- I mean School of Zar." Sirius pointed out at a corner on the large parchment.

"That's nothing but an empty land now." Salazar said in a low voice. He was not used to the hospitality that everyone was showing him. Although his step-father, or that evil-doer, was gone for good, he could never revert to the way he was before.

"We can build up a house for you." Rowena volunteered.

"Your parents would have left you the land." Godric petted his right shoulder. "Don't worry about it, we'll help you."

"Thank you." Salazar said in a low voice, grateful that the only friend in his life was by his side. He would have thought that people would ostracize him after what he and his step-father had done, but Godric stood firmly by his side in front of the whole village.

"What's next?" Elizabeth asked as she looked up at Arabella and Sirius for ideas.

"Erm, the location of dormitories." Arabella suggested.

"I want Gryffindor house to be in a tower, entrance must be from one of the highest floor of the main building." Godric suggested, exactly at the place where Gryffindor was located in Hogwarts, before Sirius or Arabella even mention where it was in present time.

"Can mine be somewhere near the kitchens?" Helga suggested sheepishly.

"Slytherin house would be at the opposite end of Gryffindor." Salazar grinned at Godric. Since young, due to Salazar's competitive nature, despite being best buddies, they had always been competing with each other. "The furthest possible place."

"Ro, what about yours?" Arabella exchanged a look with Sirius. All three founders did get the common room position at the place where it ended up at.

"I would like mine to be at a tower, need not be as high as Dric's, but tower seems cool." Rowena blushed slightly at the mention of Godric's name.

"Exactly where they are in the future." Arabella gave a small smile as the memories of future Hogwarts flashed across her mind.

"I never dreamt that I'll be taking part in the process of setting up Hogwarts." Sirius grinned, not his usual bright smile, but an upward curve nevertheless.

X

"How do we create the Room of Requirement?" Sirius asked suddenly. It was a pity that the Marauders Map for Hogwarts was left in the future. That would be a useful gadget for their planning process.

"What is that?" Helga asked. The group was sitting in one of the meeting rooms in the castle, having a serious discussion on the setting up of Hogwarts. It had been almost a month since they first started creating the floor plan.

"It is a magical room that turns into a place for someone who is in need." Arabella explained.

"That room can be anything, even the Marauders" Sirius paused for a moment. "Can't plot it on the map."

"How are we going to create it since we don't even have the slightest idea on that?" Rowena asked, looking up.

"Since that exists in the future, we must have created it somehow." Godric commented. "So let's gather the villagers for help to build up the school."

X

"Take a rest from all the work." Arabella called out to the villagers who were playing a part to build up Hogwarts from scratch. As she was not able to perform magic, she contributed by dealing with the logistic side.

"Thanks." Sirius was the first to dash for the drinks and gulped down the contents within seconds. "Heavenly." The moment the cup was placed on the magical tray, it filled up magically with water again.

"Thank you." Elizabeth sipped down her drink. "This must be tough on you."

"What I'm doing is nothing compared to what you are doing." Arabella said as a matter-of-fact. "You're of royal birth, instead of living the luxurious life of a princess in the palace; you chose to help us to set up the school, getting all dirtied and everything."

"You're my incarnation, that wouldn't make any difference." Elizabeth whispered. In order not to get their names recorded in history, they used a different name in the public. Sirius Black named himself Syrius White, and was holding the title as Princess Elizabeth's bodyguard, while Arabella Figg was now known as Arabel Fitz, personal maid for the Princess. Other than the difference in hair colour, they appeared to be splitting image of each other.

"The whole thing is looking good, isn't it?" Godric commented in satisfaction as he looked at the walls that had been put up magically by the villagers who were hovering on their broomsticks.

"We should increase the height of the entrance a little." Rowena was calling out from her broomstick as she magicked another brick to be put on top of the current level. "It's the grand entrance after all."

"Alright." Helga levitated a brick off the ground with her as she flew from ground level. The royal family funded the resources while the villagers contributed their time and energy in the building process. "Ro, have a break before continuing." She called out to Rowena.

"I'll leave it to you then." Rowena smiled before flying towards Arabella's direction. Helga gave a thumb-up for a reply.

"This is going on faster than we thought." Arabella looked up at the building-in-progress castle. "The battle felt like yesterday but it was almost a year ago."

"I'm sure things will turn out to be much better in the future." Rowena smiled. "The future will be much better definitely." Both of them took a look at Salazar, who was talking with Godric over the stadium for flying sports.

X

"It has been five years, hasn't it?" Twenty-four-year-old Arabella asked Sirius. Five years ago, on this very night, was the death of the six people closest to them.

"I can still feel the pain and memory as though it just happened yesterday." Sirius sighed as he stood beside Arabella. They always looked at the night sky from one of the highest tower in the palace, to see the magical arch that reminded them of their loved ones.

"You know, I can't help but wonder sometimes how life is like two thousand years later." Arabella said wistfully. "Is there another group of us in Hogwarts? Are we living life without the destiny of saving the world?"

"I'm sure our future selves are in a better state than how we were last time." Sirius commented longingly. "Look at how magnificent Hogwarts is looking now." He pointed to the castle silhouette some distance away.

"It's amazing how we got the whole castle from scratch." Arabella smiled. The Hogwarts castle had almost completed their main building process, and now they were just doing the finishing magical touches and miscellaneous buildings. It should be ready within the next two years, and it looked exactly like how it would two thousand years from now.

"Now I know why Hogwarts is the best magical school ever." Sirius joked. "It has modern magic from two thousand years into the future for its construction. Magical charms and items that are not even in existence today."

"The best part was the Room of Requirement." Arabella reminisced how they created the room. "The future generation benefited from it thanks to you. No wonder all mischief-makers always seem to find that room."

"I created and dedicated it especially for such talents in the future." Sirius laughed. They had built to the level where Room of Requirement was located before planning on how to go about creating such a room. In fact, the plan for that room was one of the shortest ever.

_"Now, how are we going to create the Room of Requirement?" Godric asked. They had finished the ground floor up till sixth floor of the building before gathering for ideas._

_"Any spells or charms?" Helga suggested._

_"I think it needs something more than spells and charms alone, probably serious magic." Rowena contributed._

_"How do you activate the Room?" Salazar asked._

_"By walking past the section of blank wall back and forth three times, concentrating hard on what is needed." Sirius answered automatically._

_"Perhaps we need something from the brain, like mind power, brain juice, and all kinds of magical creature brains?" Godric suggested helpfully._

_"Do you think we need someone with supernatural brain power? Like a telekinetic?" Rowena spoke her thoughts. "I would think we need something more than just normal magic, like something really extraordinary and powerful."_

_"Stef was a telekinetic, but my super power lies in my eyes." Sirius frowned while thinking hard. "Do you think it is created on the exchange of such magical powers?"_

_"How are you going to create a room with your eyes?" Helga asked. "As you said, the room can be anything."_

_"Maybe I can create it with my mind?" Sirius said more excitedly. "Perhaps we can all create it with our minds; it doesn't really exist to start off." He stood up from his seat in the palace's discussion room. "We can all focus on the area meant for the Room, I can try to enter your minds, and combine all our brain magic together to create the room. We can create the room in our minds."_

_"Wow, it sounds real tough." Rowena commented. "We can give it a try tomorrow, but that's going to be real exhausting."_

_"I think that should be the way. Since the method of activation is from the mind, the way of creating it should be from the mind as well." Salazar agreed._

_"We should give this a try. It just sounds like the perfect way of creating this room." Godric nodded approvingly._

_"The six of you have extraordinary magical powers. I've got a good feeling about this." Arabella supported enthusiastically._

"And the most amazing part was that it was created within two weeks." Arabella smiled fondly at the memory.

_"That didn't work well." Rowena shook her head, collapsing onto the floor due to exhaustion._

_"Maybe we should do a five-point arrangement instead." Godric suggested. "Retain the shape of a star and we can replace someone for rest once every eight hours."_

_"That's a good idea." Helga nodded. "It is like from the power of the stars above."_

_"Let's start with the rotation schedule." Godric led the group into planning the rest-time rotation._

_"I reckon two weeks should suffice in the Room creation." Sirius said logically. "By two weeks, we should be really exhausted even if we don't get the room ready. Let's stop after two weeks, and come up with another plan by then."_

"Oh yes, ten days." Sirius commented. "Try concentrating for ten days straight and see if your brain continues to function after that." The six of them took turns and sat in the five points with equal distance to the centre of the room and concentrated hard on imagining how the room looked like. As the room was created solely by the brain, it was not exactly solid, to put it simply. Hence, they built the strongest wall around to protect the room from any possible forms of damage.

"It was strange to see the room without the door." Arabella laughed when she remembered the first time they tried out the Room of Requirement.

_"Let me try it first." Sirius spoke up excitedly the moment they completed building the surrounding brick walls to the Room of Requirement. He stood in front of the empty wall, closed his eyes and walked back and forth three times._

_True enough, a door appeared magically in front of him. The seven of them erupted into a chorus of cheers, while hoping that the room was a success._

_"Let's see." Sirius pushed open the brick door, and revealed a Gryffindor dormitory. "It works!" He looked around the round room, looking pensively at the tables and beds._

_"This is exactly how I envisioned the Gryffindor dormitories to be." Godric looked around in awe, it looked better than in his imagination._

_"This is how the Gryffindor dormitories looked like in the future." Arabella walked around clockwise, touching the bed closest to the door. "This was Lily's, then Stefanie, and mine, to Joey and Samantha. How I miss those times with them." Her eyes got teary at the thought of her roommates and life in Hogwarts._

_"I guess we should continue testing the room." Sirius stood up from the bed where he was sitting in the last five minutes._

After a try each by all of them, they had asked some of the volunteers and villagers to test it. After slightly more than a hundred tries, only three failed. One man wanted a beach full of naked women, which was obviously not possible as the Room could not create human nor natural environment. Another was a little boy who wanted all the toys in the world. Since it was not necessary to create such a room in the school, no one had thought about it. The last was by Arabella, who was not able to activate the room, probably due to the lack of magical powers.

X

"Welcome to the official opening of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry." The King announced. All the villagers in Hogsmeade were gathered in the Grand Hall of Hogwarts, celebrating its beginning on 1st September. "We're proud to be the first in history to build the biggest magical school in the world. After seven years of hard work by everyone, we finally can get this school running from today onwards." He paused for a moment before continuing his speech.

Despite the grandeur of the place, they wanted to keep Hogwarts exclusive by keeping the publicity to the minimal. After more than a year of planning with the royal advisors, they derived the school's syllabus with all of them taking up various managing responsibilities.

"I shall now introduce the Hogwarts team." The King turned slightly to divert the audience attention to the group standing behind him.

"We will have Elizabeth Suidae as the Headmaster." Elizabeth walked forward with a big smile and bowed slightly. "She will be the overall in-charge." After her introduction, she moved to the side of the stage.

"We have Agenor Peverell, the Royal Advisor, who will now take up additional duty of being Hogwart's advisor." An amiable-looking man about sixty walked forward with a nod before moving off the stage.

"Next, we will have Godric Gryffindor, who will be the Head of Gryffindor house and teaching Transfiguration." Godric moved forward swiftly. "Helga Hufflepuff will be the Head of Hufflepuff house and teaching the subject Herbology." Helga took a deep breath and walked forward with a big smile. "Rowena Ravenclaw is the Head of Ravenclaw house and will be teaching Charms." Rowena walked gracefully forward the stage after the King finished his statement. "The final house will be Slytherin, headed by Salazar Slytherin. He will be teaching the subject potions." Salazar moved forward, showing the friendliest expression he ever had. There were slight murmuring in the audience but no one had any objections since the King had approved his title personally.

"These are the four houses in Hogwarts, and everyone will be sorted accordingly with your personalities." The King continued. "Other subjects that we are having include Defense against Dark Arts by Syrius White." Sirius walked forward confidently, exuding the charm of a twenty-eight-year old. "He will also be conducting Flying classes and in-charge of the sports in Hogwarts."

"Next, we've Arabel Fitz to teach Muggle Studies, to give us a better understanding of the other community we're living with. She'll also be conducting Astronomy classes for those who are interested." Arabelle walked forward with a smile. Although it had been more than ten years since she left Hogwarts without proper graduation, she was ready to teach the students all about muggles.

"We're thankful to all other contributors, suppliers, and volunteers who helped us to set up Hogwarts in the last few years. We truly appreciate for all that you have done to help us in educating the next generation of wizards and witches. Right now, please enjoy the feast lay ahead of you." The food appeared magically on the plates in front of them, with a large spread of chicken, pork, beef and vegetables.

X

"What a long day." Arabella took a seat in Rowena's bedroom in Hogwarts on a Friday night. "Can't wait for the Easter break to start."

"This is only our fifth year running the school and you're so tired." Rowena said half-heartedly.

"Are you alright?" Arabella asked. "You're not in your normal self today."

"Yeah, I'm alright." Rowena replied automatically.

"No, you're not." Arabella got up and took a seat beside her on the bed. "What happened?"

"I-" Rowena sighed. "I don't know."

"It's alright. We're here for you if you ever need someone to talk to." Arabella gave her a reassuring hug. "Have a good rest tonight. We can talk when you're ready." She stood up and started heading towards the door.

"I'm pregnant." Rowena whispered inaudibly.

"What?" Arabella turned around in shock.

"I said, I'm pregnant." Rowena looked on the floor, as though it was the most shameful thing ever said.

"How- I mean whose?" Arabella splattered.

"Dric's."

X

"Are you kidding me?!" Salazar practically shouted.

"How could something like this happen?" Sirius was reprimanding Godric. "You could have use protection, like transfigure a functioning condom or something."

"We did, I don't know, it just happened." Godric sighed. "What should I do now?"

"The only thing is to marry her." Sirius said. "Her reputation is at stake and it's your fault."

"B-but I don't love her." Godric said helplessly.

"Then why did you do it?" Salazar asked.

"It was like we drank a little too much during Christmas. I don't know how, but it just happened." Godric sighed in defeat. "I guess I don't have much of a choice now."

X

"At least he's taking responsibilities for his own actions." Elizabeth commented. It was three weeks since Rowena discovered her pregnancy. In haste, Godric and Rowena had a simple wedding in Hogwarts Hall a week ago on Valentine's weekend.

"I can't believe he could do something like this." Helga said. Elizabeth, Helga and Arabella were hanging out in Elizabeth's bedroom on the weekend since the students were out in Hogsmeade for the day.

"Love is complicated." Arabella commented. "It's hard to find a guy whom you love that can love you back unconditionally."

"I know. That's why we're still single in our thirties." Elizabeth laughed. She had princes from many regions coming to ask for her hand in marriage but she was simply not interested. Instead, she chose to dedicate her life to Hogwarts, spending all her time and effort in creating a better educational institute for the future.

"We all knew that Dric likes Liz, but how could he still do that to Ro." Helga shook his head.

"I won't reciprocate his love, especially now he is a married man. It's just wrong to betray my friend for a man like him." Elizabeth said as a matter-of-fact. "I guess fate has a way with people."

"On a brighter note, should we go for lunch in Hogsmeade? I'm craving for some Mrs. Puff pastries." Arabella suggested.


	141. Generation Y in the Millennium

**Chapter 140: Generation Y in the Millennium**

Everything appeared to be the total opposite of what it was supposed to. Almost everything…

Well, the same boys and girls were born to the same families, except that they were all living a life that was so different from the 1960s and 1970s. This time, they were the Generation Y that were born in the 1980s, and hitting the millennium in their late teens. In the magical universe, all of them became friends at the same time in school during their teenage years. In our world, they met one another at different point of their life at various places.

And the biggest difference of all, they are all normal youngsters without the slightest clue to the magical community around them.

3333333333

Twenty-six-year old Lily Evans parked her yellow Volkswagen Beetle at the staff parking area in the underground car park and walked briskly with confidence towards the lift lobby of a modern office-cum-hotel block. She believed that a person's footstep may reveal many secrets, such as her mood, character, occupation and taste.

One of her philosophy in life is that she will never change the pace of her footsteps for any man, although she is already in her mid-twenties. Hitting thirty is not a big deal, as she strongly believes that when she turns forty, she will be even prettier. After all, beauty comes from wisdom. People said her independence and strong personality kept men at bay, which is why she is still unattached. However, she said that these men are useless, and are just not worthy of her time and attention.

"I don't care how you do it. Pass it to another printer or rush it out overnight. I will have 70 airtime slots on TV and radio for the publicity. If you can't finish on time, you'll have to compensate us for our losses." Lily spoke firmly to the person at the other end of the line on her cell phone as she walked into her office. As one of the Managers for the Public Relations and Advertising Department, she led a small team of staff in promoting the hotel to various corporations. She had been with this job for a few years, starting out initially as an executive after graduating from a local university with a Business Degree.

"Rae, please contact the manager of ZH for me." She said to one of her colleagues after hanging up the phone.

"Aren't you supposed to be on leave, Lils?" Rae asked.

"Cancel my leave for me, please." Lily asked Rae who nodded in understanding. "Oh, and I want an urgent meeting for our team in half an hour. Thanks."

"Nicole, can I have the file for ZH Corp?" She turned and asked another of her colleague.

"Sure." Nicole nodded and looked through the files on her desk.

"Thanks." With that, Lily walked towards her office on a Friday morning, when she was supposed to be on leave.

3333333333

A red Audi A3 turned into one of the staff parking lot in the Ministry of Education car park. Stefanie Black picked up her handbag, locked the car with a 'beep' and walked towards the one of the many office buildings. It was the usual Friday morning rush whereby everyone was trying to get to work as quickly as they could, trying to finish off everything before the weekend ahead.

Twenty-six-year-old Stefanie Black had been working in the ministry Research Department since graduation a few years ago with a Psychology Honours Degree. Starting off as an intern, she moved on as the Research Executive and promoted to Manager within three years.

"Morning Stef." Eleanor greeted as she walked over to join Stefanie at the lobby. Eleanor was two years younger and was Stefanie's junior in high school and university.

"Morning." Stefanie greeted warmly. "So glad it's almost weekend. This has been one hectic week."

"More like one hectic month." Eleanor laughed as they walked into the lift together. She joined Stefanie's department since graduation and had been working with her since then.

"I know. Can't wait for this whole thing to end." Stefanie agreed. As it was the school break for students, there were several educational conferences held for the primary and secondary school teachers organised by their department.

"Morning." Another of their colleague, Joanne, walked out from the opposite lift from them.

"Morning. Aren't we all late today?" Stefanie joked. The women laughed and headed to their respective desks in the office. She placed her stuff at the side of her cluttered desk and switched on the computer.

"Right, what do I need to finish today?" She muttered to herself while looking at her to-do list in her organiser and checking her email inbox.

3333333333

Arabella Figgs ran into the subway station, down a flight of stairs towards the platform and managed to rush into the train just as the doors were closing. "Ouch." She rubbed her forearms that were hit by the closing doors. She took the seat closest to her just as the train was about to start moving. She was so engrossed in reading her book that when she looked up, the morning crowd had already filled up the space in the train. Just then, she noticed an elderly man standing not too far from her who was carrying heaps of stuff and looking around for an empty seat. Without hesitation, she stood up with the intention of giving her seat to the old man. A middle-age lady tried to rush to her empty seat before she even walked away.

"I'm sorry, Madam." Arabella said politely, preventing the lady from sitting down. The middle-age lady walked away in embarrassment. "Sir, over here." She called out to the elderly man as she pointed to her previous seat. He was delighted to see a young lady offering him her seat and proceeded over with several 'excuse me's.

"Thank you." The old man said gratefully as he tried to put his stuff onto the ground before sitting down. As the train jerked while stopping at the next station, several apples fell out from his toppled bag. Arabella was the only one who helped him to pick up the fruits.

"Thank goodness they're not spoilt." Arabella said honestly as she took a closer look at the apples while packing it back for him. "They look really delicious."

"Yes." The old man smiled and was thankful to her kindness. "Thank you so much for this."

"That's okay, you're welcome." Arabella smiled warmly at the elderly. "Do you want to put his mat under the seat too?"

"Its okay, this one is not necessary. I can hold on to it as I doze off easily on the train." The old man was impressed and gave approving nods to Arabella's kindness.

"That's alright. I'll wake you up when you reach your stop. Which station are you heading to?" Although Arabella was running a little late for work, she helped the old man to his stop and carried his stuff until he was safely out of the subway station before turning back to catch the next train to work.

Twenty-six-year-old Arabella Figgs is a secondary school teacher ever since graduation from a teaching college a few years back. Her kindness and compassion towards all living being makes her a wonderful woman with an angelic personality.

3333333333

"Come in." James Potter responded to the knock at the door to his office.

"Did you ask for me, Boss?" A pretty lady in her early twenties sashayed into his office.

"Do you know why I wanted to see you?" James looked up from the opened file at the lady.

"Because you want to date me?" The lady asked flirtatiously.

"It's your report I'm after." James said firmly as he slammed the file down. The lady jumped slightly at the sound.

"Boss, I didn't mean to be late. Justin promised to do it for me but he backed out at the last minute." The lady tried to explain.

"I told him to. If he dares to do it for you, I'll fire him immediately." James scolded. "Don't think you can use your beauty to make men do things for you."

"I earned this job with my capability." The lady argued in a higher pitch.

"Is that so?" James was looking slightly annoyed.

"Yes."

"Why are you taking more than a week to do a proposal then?" James asked.

"I thought.." The lady stuttered.

"You thought you can get Kent or Justin to do it for you? Dream on. You should just find another job then." James crossed his arms.

"Are you firing me?"

"Have I not made myself clear enough?"

"Don't plead with me. I wouldn't mind if tender your resignation either."

"Fine! I've been waiting for this day!" The lady messed up his table and scattered his documents all over the floor before leaving his office with a loud slam.

"What the-" James muttered as he sort out the mess created by his ex-employee. At twenty eight, he is working as a Manager for the hotel's Public Relations and Advertising Department. With his talent, he was promoted from an Executive to Manager within two years since he joined the company.

After graduating from university, he took time off to travel around the world before starting work at his present job. Although his family owns Potter Hotel all around Europe, his father felt that he was not prepared to manage their family business yet and got him to take up a job in another hotel chain to learn the necessary skills.

"I wonder what makes Joseph hired her in the first place." He sighed.

3333333333

"Hey Lils, how was work today?" Arabella asked as Lily walked into the apartment after nine p.m. on a Friday night. "I thought you were on leave today."

"Yes, I was. But there were some urgent meetings today and I had to cancel my leave. Luckily, I still managed to make it for the family portrait shoot over lunch and had dinner with my parents." Lily rubbed her shoulders as she waited for the water to boil.

"You're such a workaholic." Arabella teased as she took the box of green tea out of the cupboard for Lily.

"Thanks. I don't want to either, not like I had a choice." Lily sighed and lazed on the couch as she sipped her hot tea. "Where's Stef?"

"Not back yet." Arabella said. "Do you want some dinner?"

"No thanks. Had sushi for takeaway. Probably should head to bed real soon. I'm _so_ exhausted." Lily yawned. They heard keys jingling outside the door.

"Looks like Stef is back too." Arabella opened the door for Stefanie before she could.

"Thanks." Stefanie walked into the apartment and poured herself a glass of cold water. "How's your day?"

"Good." Arabella replied.

"Exhausted." Lily exclaimed from the couch.

"Me too." Stefanie replied. "Wanted to finish the meeting minutes before the weekend and it took me longer than I thought."

"Want some dinner?" Arabella asked.

"Yes please." Stefanie begged. "I'm starved."

"Three minutes." Arabella took out the container of her leftover beef bolognaise from the fridge and shoved it into the microwave.

It was interesting how the three of them met and became friends since then. Lily and Stefanie were classmates and good friends in primary school but went to different classes in the same high school. Subsequently, both of them went to different universities while maintaining their close friendship throughout the whole time. After returning back to London and finding a job in the city, Lily decided to flat with Stefanie and Arabella, as they were looking for a third flatmate and this apartment was a lot closer to her workplace than her family house.

Stefanie and Arabella were classmates and friends throughout high school but were not very close. After an incident in the beginning of their final year, Arabella then became good friends with Lily and Stefanie.

"_Arabella, still here at this time?"_ _Stefanie ran up to Arabella who was walking ahead of her out of the school gates in late afternoon._

"_The teacher wanted to see me." Arabella replied. "What about you?"_

"_I left some Biology lab reports behind, but I can't seem to find it." Stefanie said sheepishly. "I've looked everywhere. Do you have it?"_

"_Yes, I can lend it to you." Arabella smiled._

"_Don't you need it?" Stefanie asked as they had a Biology test the following week._

"_I've gone through them. It will be fine if I revise it again just before the exams." Arabella told her._

"_Really?_ _Thank you so much." Stefanie gushed. "Can I stop by your place later to have a look at it?"_

"_My house?"_ _Arabella said uncertainly._

"_Yup."_ _Stefanie nodded, but she saw Arabella having some difficulties, she changed her mind. "That's okay. Please bring them for me tomorrow. Let's go. It's getting late."_

_Stefanie walked ahead while Arabella hesitated for a moment before calling out, "Stefanie, do you want to come to my place now?"_

"_Sure." Stefanie nodded and smiled appreciatively back. Arabella rarely spoke a word as they walked back to her house together._

_When they arrived, Arabella stood outside her place for a moment while Stefanie encouraged her to go in together. A sloppy drunken man suddenly walked out from the opened doorway towards them. From outside, they could see several empty beer bottles on the table. Arabella was trembling in fright as the man walked closer. Stefanie held tightly onto Arabella's clammy right hand._

"_The wretch is finally home." The drunken man shouted at Arabella. "Who is this?" He yelled at Stefanie._

"_Hello, how are you?" Stefanie greeted as politely as she could. She was kind of afraid of that man too._

"_How are you?! What the hell with that!" The drunken man snorted._

"_You!"_ _He turned to Arabella. "Where are you books?" Arabella kept quiet. "What are you staring at?" He raised his right hand and slapped Arabella who screamed in pain. "Still staring? Why? You can't remember my face?" He gave her another slap and pushed her to the ground._

"_Are you alright?" Stefanie asked out of concern and bent forward to hold her. Tears were streaming out of Arabella's eyes and a bruise was starting to form on her left cheek._

"_What is this? You are still staring at me? You want hit me?" Arabella glared back which angered him further and he started beating the both of them. Stefanie used herself as a shield and tried to protect Arabella._

"_What are you doing?" A woman came running out from the house and pulled the man away. "He had too many drinks." Another woman from the neighbouring house came forward to help the two girls too. "Get him inside."_

"_She is not my daughter! That wretch!" The man shouted as he loosened both women grip forcefully. "I thought you are dead!" Both girls looked up at the crazy drunkard. Stefanie stood up suddenly and gave him a hard push._

"_What the..!" The man fell down on his bum. _

"_Let's go." Stefanie glared at him angrily, although she was feeling the pain from his beating, she grabbed Arabella's hand and brought her away._

"_Where to?"_ _The man shouted as the two women pulled him back to his feet. "Don't come back." Stefanie and Arabella ran as fast as they could out of the horrible place._

"_Get a grip of yourself." One of the women shouted at him._

_As they ran, they could hear the man shouting "Don't come back! Don't ever come back!" After what felt like forever, they arrived back at Stefanie's house. Her mother was waiting at the gate as Stefanie was running later than usual._

"_Did you girls run home?" Mrs. Black asked kindly. "Oh my god!' She exclaimed the moment she saw Stefanie's messed up hair and bruised face. "What's the matter with you?" She turned Stefanie's face over anxiously for a closer look._

"_Had an accident, Mum."_ _Stefanie shrugged off. "Daddy?" She called out._

"_What's the matter?" Mr. Black came downstairs with Stefanie's calling. "I'm coming."_

"_Come here." Stefanie ushered Arabella to her front. "She's Arabella, my classmate." She told her parents. "Say hello." She said softly to Arabella._

"_Hello Mr. and Mrs. Black, how are you?" Arabella greeted shyly in embarrassment._

"_Good.." Stefanie's parents nodded, looking very surprised._

"_She's staying over tonight with me." Stefanie told her parents. She then steered Arabella upstairs towards the direction of her room before her parents could even respond._

"_Stef."_ _Her parents stood in shock for a moment before calling her back._

"_Wait here." Stefanie directed Arabella to the large couch in her bedroom and made her sit down._

"_Stef, don't bother.." Arabella said shyly._

"_You don't have to go back there." Stefanie told her firmly. She gave Arabella a nod before going out of her room._

"_What's going on?" Mrs. Black asked the moment Stefanie came out of her room._

"_What are you saying?" Mr. Black asked disapprovingly._

"_She is my classmate, and she'll be staying with us. That's all I'll say, for now." Stefanie told her parents softly, before going back into the room. Her parents just stood outside, very confused but could probably guess what was wrong with her friend. Stefanie put her hand across Arabella's shoulder, "From now on.."_

"_He's not my father." Arabella explained as tears streamed down her bruised face. "He's my step-father, not my real father." She started sobbing._

"_Don't cry." Stefanie hugged her as she cried even harder. "It's okay now. Don't cry. Everything's okay."_

Since that day, Mr. and Mrs. Black took Arabella in and treated her as their second daughter. They provided her with a place to stay, family love, and even paid for all her education until she graduated from teaching college. Arabella had always been very grateful to Stefanie and her parents' kindness and felt that God was extremely kind to her.

"Are both of you keen to go out for dinner tomorrow evening?" Lily asked as she channel-surfed with the TV remote control. "I don't feel like doing the cooking this weekend."

"Sounds good." Stefanie agreed and turned to see Arabella's respond from the kitchen. "Belle?"

"Fine with me too." Belle brought the heated dinner and served Stefanie.

"Thanks Sweetie." Stefanie said gratefully as she helped herself to the delicious bolognaise penne in front of her.

3333333333

Sirius Black called his personal assistant the moment he got out of the airport on Saturday morning. He had just rushed back to London from a meeting in Edinburgh the day before. With numerous flights and serious lack of sleep in the past week, he was in an even more irritable mood than usual.

"Yes, I've received it." Sirius told his assistant, Lee, on the line. "I'm on my way. Good,. Right away. Yes." He broke into a run towards the taxi stand. After waiting for ten minutes for the cab, he was stuck in slow traffic for another fifteen minutes.

"Can you hurry up?" He commanded the taxi driver after checking his watch almost ten times.

"It's too jammed. We can't move much." The taxi driver gave the most obvious reply. "There isn't space to overtake again."

"Then take the bus lane! I'll take responsibility for any consequences." Sirius exclaimed in a louder tone. The taxi driver gave a snorted and ignored his comment. "Get over there quickly! I'll be responsible for it."

"What can you be responsible for?" The taxi driver argued. "I'll be fined if this gets on the camera. How do I know who you are?"

"What the-" Sirius was not sure which option he was more annoyed with, him being late for an important meeting with a client or the taxi driver not knowing who he was.

By the age of thirty, he became the Chief Executive Officer of Sage Enterprises that owns several hotels and supermarkets. He has also been nominated for one of the ten Young Entrepreneur Awards previously and featured in several magazines in the last few years.

He paid the taxi driver and dashed out of the cab after being caught in the slow traffic for another fifteen minutes. He needed to get back to the hotel within half an hour and decided to go for the train instead. Since he was a regular jogger, he had the stamina to run long distances and managed to make in back to the hotel within forty-five minutes.

"Sorry, I'm late, Mr. Robinson." Sirius said the moment he entered the conference room. He turned to his assistant. "Lee, get the data ready for the meeting."

"Yes, Sir." Lee nodded and left the conference room promptly to fetch the documents.

3333333333

"Dad, sorry I'm late." Remus greeted as he entered his father's office. Remus had been working for his father after law school, and at twenty-nine, he is a legal consultant for several corporations.

"Take a seat." Mr. Lupin said.

"What is the reason for making me reporting to office on a Saturday morning?" Remus asked. "You can't possibly be missing your son suddenly." He joked.

"I'm not missing my son." Mr Lupin said in a serious tone. "I just called in the company's legal consultant."

"What's the matter?" Remus asked after his father gave a loud sigh.

"Take a look at this." Mr Lupin handed Remus a legal document and he looked up in surprise after reading the first few pages of the Will. "Do you think this is a good idea?" He asked his father.

"Probably? The old man is not a fool." Mr. Lupin commented with a small laugh. "I'll let you to settle this issue with his grandson."

"He won't agree if he gets to know about this." Remus shook his head.

"He has to know it sooner or later." Mr. Lupin as he adjusted his spectacles. "The President wants you to handle this."

"Why me? There are other senior attorneys who more experienced in this area." Remus shot back. "Is it because of my relationship with him?"

"Absolutely." Mr. Lupin nodded.

"The President wants me to handle this time bomb?" Remus laughed as he shook his head.

"Do you think you father should do it then?" Mr. Lupin replied. "This is an order. I'm your boss and I've the final say." He stood up and turned back to his desk.

"Father." Remus followed suit.

"He says he wants this done by Monday."

"It is going to be one busy weekend." Remus said begrudgingly. "I thought I could enjoy my weekend for a change." He picked up the Will and slid the document back into the envelope.

"I supposed Dad is standing on the side of the President."

"What's with that? Does it matter whose side I'm on?" Mr Lupin argued. "Aren't you on your good friend's side then?"

"I'm a lawyer, Dad." Remus said rationally. "I'm with the winning side." Both of them laughed at the comical side of the situation.

"I'm with the winning side too." Mr. Lupin stood up and picked up his briefcase. "Aren't you going home?"

"Didn't drive today. Can I hitch a ride with you?"

"I am going to charge a fare for the ride." Mr. Lupin teased as both men walked out of the office.

3333333333

"Cheers to our career." The three men held up their beer, gave a toast, and emptied half the bottle in a few mouthfuls. They were having a drink and hanging out at Sirius' penthouse that overlooked the city skyline since it was conveniently located between James' and Remus' apartments, as well as being the largest among them with two guest rooms.

James and Sirius had been friends as far as they could remember since both their families were business associates and worked in the hotel industry. Both of them attended the same schools and graduated from the same university, except James was two years later. Sirius was like an older brother to James. When they were in high school, they got to know Remus, who happened to be the son of their family lawyer. Since then, the three boys hit off so well that they became close mates.

Sirius was the first to finished university and joined his family business starting off as the General Manager and became the Chief Executive Officer within three years. His father and grandfather continued to manage the company as President and major shareholder of the Sage Enterprises while he oversees the daily operations. His parents bought him a penthouse in downtown London and BMW as a graduation present and as an encouragement for his effort.

James and Sirius had flatted together for more than a year during their university years and decided it was a bad idea to continue that trend in their working life. Remus was discouraged by James for the idea of flatting with Sirius as there might not be any peace of him. Sirius was infamous for his playboy antics throughout his younger days, but had toned down heaps since he started working.

The three men met up at least once a month to hang out at Sirius' place since that was probably the only place with some privacy since Sirius and chaos seemed to be synonymous. James and Remus owned a studio apartment each at a different suburb since they were at a different income level compared to Sirius.

"How is the spitfire at work?" Remus asked James. "Still causing trouble with you?"

"She may look pretty and all, but in fact she's a shrew, a devil in disguise. You don't want to know." James laughed. "Enough about her, I had just fired the tenth, or was it the twelfth, female executive from my team yesterday."

"How long had she been working there for?" Remus laughed. "Two weeks?"

"I can't remember, three or four weeks perhaps." James shrugged. "Remind me to hire someone based on their capability and not looks when I'm working for Potter Hotels."

"It is good to have some gorgeous women at work." Sirius said. "Makes the place more interesting, you know."

"Is that why most of the female employees working in your hotels and supermarkets looking like they came out from a fashion magazine?" Remus joked.

"Of course." Sirius said in a serious tone. "All employees have to go through the etiquette and image course as part of their training. Honestly, the presentation and image is very important. It's the branding we're talking about here."

"I might just steal that idea from you if I ever become the CEO of Potter Hotels." James laughed. At this point, his father is still the CEO and major shareholder of the corporation, his mother is the Finance Director and older sister who is the General Manager of the hotels.

"As my legal consultant, you need to make sure no one, especially those competitors from the same industry, should ever copy my management ideas. You have to sue them to bankruptcy for any infringement." Sirius told Remus in a mock serious tone.

"As my legal consultant, you need to provide your most useful proposals to ensure the company is progressing forward without breaking any plagiarism or copyright law." James told Remus in a similar mock serious tone.

"Okay, I get it. I'll document everything into a hundred-page contract to make sure both of you are working as legal business partners and progressing forward with positive competition." Remus held up his hands in a surrendering gesture.

"Is that what my lawyer should say?" Sirius asked cheekily.

"I'm a lawyer, I don't take sides." Remus stated a matter-of-fact. "My paycheck depends on both of you, remember?"

"I can double your salary, come to my side." Sirius offered jokingly.

"I can triple your salary, come to mine." James added. "That's only after I become the CEO." The three men laughed and clink their bottles once again for a toast.

"On a more serious note," Remus started, "Sirius, your grandfather had altered his Will again, and your father had also approved the terms." His expression became a lot grimmer.

"Let me guess. Is my name in it?" Sirius frowned.

"Yes, it's there and it's the very first article." Remus took the brown envelope out of his briefcase.

"What are the terms?" Sirius' expression looked a lot grimmer. "Grandfather won't hand the company shares to me without conditions attached. If it's the same conditions again, my answer is still 'NO'." Remus and James exchanged a looked as Sirius skulled down another beer out of anger. "Don't worry, he played me once. I can't let him decide my future and I won't put my life in his hands."

"There are terms, but it's different from the last time." Remus continued when Sirius finished what he wanted to say, at least for now.

"Hurry up and tell me. I've heard the word 'terms' too many times." Sirius was getting irritated. "What a downer to ruin my weekend."

"Why the hurry.." Remus muttered under his breath. James chuckled slightly. "All the assets under his name will go to your future wife."

"My future wife?" Sirius was stunned.

"Yes, the President's choice of lady who is qualified to be part of your family, his granddaughter-in-law in this case. Whoever marries her will inherit everything." Remus told him.

"Isn't it the same? Making me marry someone he selected." Sirius snorted in disgust. "This is no difference from last year. I'm not a fool, I won't be played twice." He stood up and walked away.

"Don't interrupt." James pulled Sirius back. "Remus hasn't finished yet."

"The real problem is in the remaining contents." Remus continued when Sirius stopped trying to get away.

"There are still more?!" Sirius shouted.

"According to the President, it doesn't matter who marries her. Anyone with the legal family name Black that marries her will inherit all his assets. It is not just your game. Whoever marries her practically will get the company. You should know that if this news gets out, anyone could take over the Sage Enterprises."

"Who is she? Daughter of a major company?" Sirius turned around, his anger rising instead of calming down. "Electronics business? Or finance?"

"Neither. It's not someone that you and I know." Remus told the truth, as he always did. "I honestly don't know, and it's possible that even your parents don't know who she is."

"You might not be after the property yourself, but other people aren't like you." James added. "There are thousands of people out there with the same family name who could just be the relatives you never know."

"Drop it! I'm going crazy here." Sirius went into his room, and the next sound coming out was some 'crashing' and 'smashing' sounds.

"If you gonna do it, then put your act together quickly." James called out to Sirius when the noise in his room subsided. "The situation is in your advantage now." The next sound coming out from Sirius' room was his stereo blasting deafeningly loud.

"He really needs some anger management course." Remus laughed. The two men opened another bottle and continued drinking in silence as the music from Sirius room was so loud that they had to shout in order to hear each other.

"Ten minutes." James shouted and they continued to stare out at the skyline with blasting rock songs as background music. As James had suggested, the music was turned off after ten minutes. Sirius came out again, looking a lot calmer but still angry.

"Grandpa's request is absurd." Sirius took another bottle of beer and rejoined them at his in-house bar.

"That is the old man's wish. We've to respect that." Remus told him.

"What old man? His age may be big, but his brains are better than most of us." James and Remus chuckled at Sirius' comment. "Look at this. He bound me tight again, leaving no room for me to move."

"Are you tied up now?" James teased. "You can't move?" Sirius sent him a sharp glare.

"Yes, I can't move an inch." Sirius muttered.

"He just wants you to settle down and get married." Remus commented teasingly, grinning away with James.

"Are you kidding me?" Sirius argued. "If I was the obedient grandson who listens to his grandpa, then he wouldn't have made these kinds of Wills."

"What are your plans for now?" James asked. "You know your grandfather's temperament."

"His temper is worse than mine." James and Remus shook their head and sniggered a 'yeah right' under their breath. "Anyway, I'll have to see that woman first."

"Try to see her good points." Remus advised. "He won't pick just some random woman in the streets for the CEO's wife."

"Does anyone of you know that woman?" Sirius demanded. Both men shook their heads. "Did you two conspire with my grandfather to get back at me or something?"

"We've always stood by your side, and always will do." Remus told him and gave a pat on his shoulder.

"I know, both of you are like my best mates ever." Sirius finished another beer. "I'm just too depressed and grumbling, that's all." They were silent for a few minutes before Sirius spoke again. "I'll go see who this woman is, the one that my grandpa likes so much."

"It's weekend now. We'll go on Monday." Remus offered.

"Cool down first before you go, so you don't blow of your top when you meet her." James laughed and Remus nodded in agreement when Sirius seemed to be holding back his frustration to this comment.

"I know." Sirius lowered his voice back to the normal decibel level. "I'm so vexed now, can't imagine how I can pull through the weekend."


End file.
